GUST  ,F.  FEHLANDT 


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TRINITY  COLLEGE 
LIBRARY 

DURHAM  : NORTH  CAROLINA 


C*  S.  Ui  ^um/ia/ 



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A Century  of  Drink  Keform 


A 


Century  of  Drink  Reform 

IN  THE 

United  States 


BY 

AUGUST  F.  FEHLANDT 

6 


'■o 

rJ 

rvt  CINCINNATI:  JENNINGS  AND  GEAHAM 
; NEW  YORK:  EATON  AND  MAINS 

I'-rn 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
AUGUST  F.  FEHIiANDT 


‘ 0 Willie  brewed  a peck  o’  maut, 

And  Rob  and  Allan  cam  to  pree ; 

Three  blither  hearts  that  lee  lang  nicht 
Ye  wadna  found  in  Christendie. 

We  are  na’  fou,  we  ’re  no  that  fou, 

But  just  a drappie  in  our,  e’e ; 

The  cock  may  craw,  the  day  may  daw, 
But  ay  we  ’ll  taste  the  barley  bree.” 

— Burns. 


‘The  moon  still  fills  her  silver  hoim. 

But,  ah ! her  beams  nae  mair  they  see  ; 
Nor  crawing  cock,  nor  dawning  morn, 
Disturbs  the  worm’s  dark  revelry. 

For  they  were  na’  fou,  na’  nae  that  fou. 
But  clay-cauld  death  has  clased  ilk  e’e  ; 
And  waefu’ ! now  the  gowden  moon 
Beams  on  the  graves  of  a’  the  three.” 


— Anon. 


FOEEWORD. 


The  finest  and  most  difiicult  of  human  achieve- 
ments, whether  for  man  individually  as  a personal 
unit,  or  collectively  as  a political  unit,  is  the  art 
of  self-government.  Ignorance  — Indifference  — 
Self-interest,  this  is  the  Cerberus  that  ever  lies  at 
the  gateway  of  humanity’s  under-world,  that  the 
imprisoned  Man  may  not  escape. 

Among  a people  where  a monarch  holds  abso- 
lute sway,  the  problem  of  government  is  simple. 
His  word  is  law,  and  the  people  obey  him.  But 
where  the  people  themselves  are  allowed  to  speak 
and  choose,  complications  at  once  enter  into  the 
problem.  Opinions  and  desires  will  come  into  con- 
flict, and  the  self-interests  of  men  will  trespass 
upon  the  welfare  of  the  whole.  Besides,  social 
laws  and  forces  are  many  and  complex,  and  the 
ways,  of  evil  devious.  Democracy  can  yield  her 
best  fruits  only  where  intelligence  and  sound 
morals  generally  prevail. 

7 


8 


Foeewoed. 


Where  there  is  but  one  voice  in  the  soul  of 
man — the  voice  of  God — the  problem  of  self-gov- 
ernment or  self-control,  too,  is  simple.  Wan  obeys 
that  voice,  and  his  rich  heritage  is  peace  and  soul 
growth.  But  with  many  conflicting  unchained  de- 
sires, like  so  many  voices  calling  to  him,  and  with 
personal  freedom  of  choice,  man  does  not  always 
listen  to  wisdom  or  goodness,  and  he  fails  of  his 
best  success,  and  may  fail  utterly. 

In  no  one  thing  is  this  illustrated  more  forcibly 
than  in  man’s  struggle  with  his  appetite  for  strong 
drink.  For  generations  and  centuries  he  has  been 
brought  under  its  seductive  influence.  Every  age 
and  every  condition  of  society,  from  half -savagery 
to  highest  civilization,  bears  witness  to  the  enslav- 
ing and  destructive  power  of  this  drug.  So  mani- 
fest has  become  man’s  w'eakness,  so  multiplied  the 
sorrow  and  shame  and  outrage  growing  out  of  it, 
that  after  the  occasional  voice  of  admonition  by 
some  prophet  of  God,  the  conscience  and  humane 
sentiment  of  Christendom  has  in  this  latter  time 
applied  itself  in  mighty  earnestness  to  the  situ- 
ation. 

Of  this  struggle,  than  which  there  is  no  more 


Poke  WORD. 


9 


stirring  page  in  all  the  annals  of  human  liberty, 
it  is  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  give  a brief  out- 
line. Of  the  main  epochs  in  this  struggle,  its  men 
and 'its  measures,  no  man  should  be  ignorant. 
Compelled  of  necessity  to  some  limitation  of  our 
theme,  the  narrative  will  confine  itself  to  this  land 
where  the  reform  first  took  definite  shape,  a land 
where  the  experiment  of  self-government  was  to 
be  tested  first  on  a large  scale,  and  whose  people 
are  determined,  we  believe,  that  as  touching  those 
things  which  vitally  affect  the  interests  of  civil- 
ization, this  experiment  shall  not  prove  a failure. 

And  yet,  after  a full  hundred  years,  the  end  is 
not.  If  these  pages  shall  contribute  aught  to 
hasten  it,  it  will  not  be  because  of  any  effort  to 
arouse  the  indifferent  or  to  preach  to  the  wicked, 
but  rather,  if  it  please  God,  by  pointing  out  direc- 
tions to  those  who  are  already  inquiring  the  way 
out.  The  Author. 


1904,  Independence  Day. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


A.  AGITATION. 

I. 

Chapter  I.  The  Awakening. — Moderation. 

1785-1826. 

Page 

The  Drinking  Customs  of  Society. — Receive  First 
Effective  Blow  from  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush. — His 
Work. — The  First  “Temperance”  Societies. — 
Voices  from  the  Pulpit. — Dr.  Rush  at  the  Presbyte- 
rian General  Assembly,  1811. — The  Churches  Take 
Up  the  Question. — Lyman  Beecher’s  Six  Sermons,  19 

II. 

Chapter  II.  Progression. — Abstinence. 

1826-1851. 

First  Period,  1826-1836 — Abstinence  from  Spirits. 

The  American  Temperance  Society,  Boston,  1826. — 

Dr.  Justin  Edwards. — Effective  Laborers  and  Lit- 
erature at  Opening  of  this  Period,  1826-1831. — 
Temperance  Reform  Introduced  Abroad. — Golden 
11 


12 


Table  of  Contents. 


Page  \ 

Age  of  Temperance  Literature,  1831-1836. — Prog- 
ress and  Growth. — First  National  Temperance 
Convention,  Philadelphia,  1833,  - - - 52 

Second  Period,  1836-1851 — Teetotalism, 

Second  National  Temperance  Convention,  Saratoga, 

1836.  — The  Washingtonian  Movement,  1840. — 
Hawkins. — Not  Prevention  Merely,  but  Keclama- 
tion  now  the  Program  of  the  Eeform. — Abraham 
Lincoln. — Fraternal  Temperance  Orders:  Recha- 
bites,  1841 ; Sons  of  Temperance,  1842;  Cadets  of 
Temperance ; Templars  of  Honor  and  Tem- 
perance, 1845 ; Good  Templars,  1851 ; First  World’s 
Temperance  Convention,  London,  1846. — Gough. — 

Father  Mathew  in  America,  ...  - 76 


/ 


III. 


Chaptee  hi.  Culmination. — Prohibition. 
1851-1856. 


The  Man  Undoing  the  Work  of  the  Reform  Discov- 
ered.— Neal  Dow’s  Interview  with  the  RumseUer. 
— The  Father  of  Prohibition. — Successive  Steps 
Toward  Complete  Prohibition. — Firet  United 
States  Supreme  Court  Decision  on  Temperance 
Question,  1847. — Prohibition  Enacted:  1851, 
Maine ; 1852,  Minnesota,  Rhode  Island,  Massachu- 
\ setts,  Vermont ; 1853,  Michigan ; 1854,  Connecti- 

\cut;  1855,  New  York,  New  Hampshire,  Nebraska 
J’erritory,  Delaware,  Indiana. — Progress  in  Other 
St,ates. — Reform  Suddenly  Arrested. — Slavery. — 
Secession, 


Table  of  Contents. 


13 


B.  COMPLICATION. 

INTERNAL  REVENUE  ACT,  JULY  1,  1882. 

TAXATION. 

I. 

Chapter  IV.  Its  Meaning  for  the  Government. 

Page 

1.  Permission.  — 2.  Protection. — 3.  Partnership. — 

4.  Promotion.  — National  Revenue  from  Liquor 
Trade. — Capital  Invested,  Output,  and  Per  Capita 
Consumption  in  the  United  States,  - - - 139 

II. 

Chapter  V.  Its  Meaning  for  the  Liquor  Trade. 

I.  Organization  for  Greater  Efficiency ; Larger  Cap- 
ital; Wealth. — II.  Organization  to  Wield  Political 
Power. — The  United  States  Brewers’  Association, 
November  12, 1862. — The  National  Protective  Asso- 
ciation, 1886.  — Resources  and  Methods  of  the 
Liquor  Power,  172 

III. 

Chapter  VI.  Its  Meaning  for  the  Free  Citizen. 

A Bribe  to  Conscience. — Money  and  Morals  Incom- 
mensurable.— Where  all  the  Money  Comes  From. 

— The  Sound  Theory  of  Exchange. — Approximate 
Money  Loss  to  Society  Annually  through  the 
Drink  Trade,  193 


14 


Table  of  Contents. 


C.  EDUCATION. 


I. 


Chapter  VII.  Moral  Movements  Since 


/ THE  War. 

Page 

(1)  National  Temperance  Society  and  Publication- 
house,  1865. — (2)  Eoyal  Templars  of  Temperance, 

1869. — (3)  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  of 
America,  1872.  — (4)  Church  (Episcopal)  Tem- 
perance Society,  1881. — (5)  The  Reform  Clubs  and 
Gospel  Temperance ; Osgood,  Eeynolds,Murphy. — 

(6)  The  Woman’s  Crusade,  1873-4.  — (7)  The 
Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union,  1874; 

Miss  Frances  Willard,  . - - . - 221 


II. 

Chapter  VIII.  Legal  and  Political  Measures 
Since  the  War. 

Changed  Conditions. — The  Prohibition  Party. — (1) 
Citizens’  Law  and  Order  League,  1877. — (2)  The 
High-License  Policy,  Nebraska,  1881. — (3)  The 
Dispensary  System,  South  Carolina,  1893;  The 
Gothenburg  System.  — (4)  State  Constitutional 
Prohibition:  Kansas,  1881;  Iowa,  1882;  Maine, 

1884;  Rhode  Island,  1886;  North  and  South 
Dakota,  1889;  Defeated  in  Other  States;  Aggre- 
gate Vote. — (5)  National  Constitutional  Prohibi- 
tion labored  for;  Blair  and  Colquitt. — (6)  The 
National  League  for  the  Suppression  of  the  Liquor 
Traffic,  1885. — (7)  The  Anti-Saloon  Republican 
Movement,  1886-88.  — (8)  The  National  Anti- 
Saloon  League, 1895,  248 


Table  of  Contents. 


15 


III. 


Chapter  IX. 


Ground  Won  and  Ground  op 
Conflict. 


Page 


I.  Total  Abstinence . — Ethics  of  Moderation . — Science 
and  Alcohol. — II.  Legislative  Suppression  of  Pub- 
lic TraflBc. — Philosophy  and  Results  of  So-called 
Substitutes  for  the  Saloon. — Ground  of  Conflict. — 

Is  Public  Sentiment  Sufficiently  Advanced  to 
Sustain  Prohibitory  Laws  ? — Probable  Seat  of 
Trouble,  - 279 


D.  ADJUDICATION. 

I. 

Chapter  X.  The  Alleged  Failures  op 
Prohibition. 

Twofold  Cause  for  Lack  of  Complete  Success  of 
Prohibition.  — First,  Area.  Handicap  of  Local 
Option,  and  of  State  Prohibition. — United  States 
Supreme  Court  Decisions  Bearing  on  Interstate 
Commerce,  1888,  1890.  — Ethics  of  Local  Option 
Principle. — Second,  Method.  Laws  Passed  by  Non- 
partisan Method  Enforced  by  Party  Method. — 
Difficulties  and  Failures,  -----  315 

II. 

Chapter  XI.  The  Lessons  op  Experience. — 

A Temperance  Constituency. 

Conclusions  from  So-called  Failures  of  Prohibition. — 
Personal  and  Political  Morals. — Consistent  Non- 
partisanship  the  Key  to  Success. — A Temperance 
Constituency, - - 367 


16 


Table  of  Contents. 


III. 

Chapter  XII.  The  Prohibition  Party 
Movement. 

Nature  and  Function  of  a Political  Party. — Perver- 
sion in  Practice:  Party  Prejudice. — Prohibition 
Party  Vote. — The  Most  Stubborn  Obstacle  in  the 
Entire  Eeform. — Ground  of  Hope. — The  Imme- 
diate Program, 


Page 


385 


A.  AGITATION. 

17 


2 


(I) 

CHAPTEE  I. 


The  Awakehhstg  : Moderation. 

1785-1826. 

“ O madness ! to  think  use  of  strongest  wines 
And  strongest  drinks  our  chief  support  of  health, 
When  God,  with  these  forbidden,  made  choice  to  rear 
His  mighty  champion,  strong  above  compare. 

Whose  drink  was  only  from  the  limpid  brook.  ” 

A HUNDRED  years  ago  nearly  everybody  took 
something.  Liquor  was  to  be  found  on  every  side- 
board. Besides  the  grogshop,  every  grocery  sold 
it,  and  no  tavern  was  without  it.  Ereer  was  its 
use  than  water  by  the  human  species. 

It  was  the  regular  table  beverage  in  the  family, 
and  was  invariably  pressed  upon  caller  and  guest. 
The  doctor  in  his  calls  upon  the  sick,  the  minister 
in  his  round  of  parish  duties,  everywhere  partook 
of  the  recruiting  drink.  To  refuse  on  such  occa- 
1 sion  to  drink  with  the  lady  of  the  house,  had  such 
\ thing  been  thought  of,  would  have  been  a discour- 
tesy, even  an  insult.  It  was  the  universal  mark  of 
* 19 


20 


A Centuky  of  Dkestk  Refokm. 


hospitality.  At  a christening,  a wedding,  a fu- 
neral ; at  balls,  parties,  bushings,  a barn  or  house- 
raising;  at  town-meetings,  musters,  cattle-shows, 
fairs;  at  the  dedication  of  a meeting-house,  the 
ordination  or  installation  of  a minister,  or  any 
other  transaction  or  assembly  whatever,  whether 
private  or  public,  social  or  business,  custom  de- 
manded that  there  must  be  something  to  drink. 

But  not  merely  as  an  agency  for  promoting 
sociability — or  solemnity,  as  the  case  might  be — 
did  liquor  serve  in  that  day;  it  was  believed  that 
man  could  not  really  do  hard  work  -without  it. 
Mechanics  and  laboring  men  were  provided  -with 
a daily  ration  of  spirits,  to  which  the  toAvn  bell 
summoned  them  at  four  and  at  eleven,  as  regu- 
larly as  meals  were  pro-vided  at  other  hours.  The 
farmer,  during  harvest  and  haying  time,  kept  his 
help  in  the  field  constantly  supplied  with  a bottle 
of  whisky  or  Rew  England  rum.  The  man  who 
could  n’t  drink  was  not  supposed  to  he  of  much 
account  when  it  came  to  hard  work.  This  beverage 
was  believed  to  be  equally  efficacious,  now  against 
the  burning  summer  heat,  now  against  -winter’s 
bitterest  cold.  Strength  and  staying  power  were 


The  Awakening:  Modekation. 


21 


always  promoted  by  its  use.  The  inference  that 
strong  drink  makes  strong  men,  was  perhaps  not 
wholly  unnatural,  blot  until  the  fatal  effects  of 
such  belief  and  practice  forced  their  damaging  evi- 
dence peremptorily  upon  the  attention  of  thought- 
ful minds,  was  the  soundness  of  this  view  ever 
seriously  questioned. 

The  liquors  in  use  embraced  all  kinds.  There 
I were  gin,  ale,  beer,  wine,  cider,  cider-brandy, 
whisky,  rum,  and  that  favorite  Sabbath  drink,  on 
coming  home  from  church,  flip,  a drink  of  home- 
brewed beer  with  an  infusion  of  spirits,  sweetened 
and  seasoned  with  sugar  and  nutmeg,  and  warmed 
, with  a red-hot  poker.  But  by  far  the  most  common 
f drink  was  rum.  West  India  rum,  whose  manu- 
facture followed  upon  the  introduction  of  sugar- 
cane into  those  islands  at  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  formed  one  of  the  chief  articles 
of  commerce  in  those  days.  A half-century  later 
ISTew  England  rum  was  added  to  the  trade. 

How  much  liquor  was  consumed  we  can  not 
deflnitely  compute.  We  have,  however,  some  rec- 
ord of  its  results.  Intemperance  was  widespread, 
with  its  train  of  want  and  woe.  It  was  a common 


22 


A Centuey  of  Deikk  Refoem. 


maxim  that  no  man  was  to  be  found  who  had  not 
been  drunk  at  least  once  in  his  life.  The  evil  had 
become  aggravated,  and  reached  its  climax  during 
the  epoch  following  the  Revolutionary  War.  The 
American  soldiers  had  been  furnished  with  spirits 
by  order  of  Congress,  that  they  might  better  sus- 
I tain  the  exposures  and  fatigue  incident  to  war. 
s With  their  home-coming,  the  unsettled  condition 
of  the  country,  the  factions  and  jealousies,  the 
spread  of  French  skepticism,  and  the  general  low 
tone  of  morals  and  religion,  intemperance  came 
like  a rising  tide  upon  the  land,  until  it  came  to  he 
l^generally  asserted  that  Americans  drank  more 
liquor,  per  capita,  than  any  other  people  on  earth. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  we  observe  the 
first  signs — the  stir  that  presages  an  awakening. 
The  occasional  voice  of  warning  hitherto  had  pro- 
duced no  perceptible  results.  The  strong  man  had 
only  turned  over  to  sleep  on,  while  the  enemy  was 
busy  sowing  tares. 

person  who  more  than  any  other  was  in- 
strumental in  effecting  this  awakening  was  that 
distinguished  American  physician  and  oitizen.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Rush,  of  Philadelphia.  To  his  labors 


The  Awakening:  Moderation. 


23 


the  nineteenth-century  world-wide  temperance 
movement  can  be  traced  by  lines  of  direct  influ- 
ence. Seldom  is  it  that  a reform  can  boast  of  such 
a birthright ! A graduate  of  Princeton  and  of 
Edinburgh,  he  became  a professor  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  and  attained  a position  of 
undisputed  pre-eminence  in  the  medical  profession 
of  America.  The  “Sydenliam  of  America,”  as 
men  called  him,  he  was  the  central  figure  in  the 
medical  world  at  Philadelphia,  as  Cullen  was  at 
Edinburgh  and  Boerhaave  at  Leyden. 

But  his  labors  were  not  limited  to  his  profes- 
sion. He  was  the  friend  and  promoter  of  every 
interest  of  humanity  and  religion.  Among  the 
builders  of  the  American  Republic  he  must  be 
assigned  a large  place.  Early  in  1776,  when  a 
number  of  the  Colonies  had  expressed  themselves 
on  the  question  of  independence,  he  brought  his 
own  State,  which  had  not  yet  moved,  also  in  line 
for  independence.  A member  of  the  Continental 
Congress  of  1776,  he  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  During  the  war  he 
was  physician-general  in  the  middle  department 
of  the  army,  and  after  its  close  he  became  a mem- 


24 


A Ceisttury  of  Drink  Reform. 


ber  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787. 
During  the  last  fourteen  years  of  his  life  he  was 
treasurer  of  the  United  States  mint.  While  others 
5 were  interested  in  the  growth  of  commerce  and 
j in  the  expansion  of  our  material  resources,  Rush 
I was  interested  in  the  expansion  of  the  human  mind 
' growing  out  of  independence  and  self-government. 

! He  advocated  free  schools  and  the  education  of 
I women.  He  was  one  of  the  chief  founders  of  Dick- 
inson College  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  and  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Dispensary,  the  first  institution  of  its  kind 
in  the  United  States,  extending  its  blessings  to 
thousands  of  the  sick  poor.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  first  anti-slavery  society,  in  1775, 
“The  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Free  Regroes  Un- 
lawfully Held  in  Bondage.”  He  was  one  of  the 
founders,  also,  of  the  Philadelphia  Bible  Society. 
He  advocated  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools, 
and  strenuously  opposed  capital  punishment  except 
for  capital  offenses. 

A type  of  the  polished  gentleman,  a brilliant 
conversationalist  and  generous  host.  Rush  never 
neglected  his  duties  to  the  sick,  nor  disdained  to 
minister  to  the  humblest.  During  his  more  than 


The  xV wakening  : Moderation. 


25 


thirty  years  as  attending  physician  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Hospital  he  is  said  never  to  have  missed 
his  daily  visit.  He  rendered  large  gratuitous  serv- 
ice to  the  poor,  and  exhorted  his  students  to  be 
especially  attentive  to  them,  quoting  Boerhaave 
that  “he  esteemed  them  his  best  patients,  for  God 
was  their  paymaster.”  His  prescriptions  were  not 
confined  to  doses  of  medicine,  but  to  the  regulation 
of  diet,  air,  dress,  exercise,  and  mental  condition 
of  his  patients,  as  an  aid  to  the  curing  or  prevent- 
ing of  disease. 

It  is  from  this  man,  holding  medals  and  honors 
from  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe,  whose  activities 
covered  so  wide  a field,  whose  interests  were  so 
humanitarian, — it  is  from  this  man  that  the  drink- 
ing customs  of  society  received  their  first  effectual 
rebuke.  His  pen,  so  busy  on  other  themes  also, 
arrested  attention.  The  fullness  of  time  had,  it 
seems,  come. 

His  “Inquiry  into  the  Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits 
i on  the  Human  Body  and  li^ind”  appeared  injAS^* 
I This  date  is  the  starting  point  in  temperance  chro- 
I nology.  The  inquiry  was  directed  to  ardent  spirits 
I only — the  distilled  liquors,  the  most  manifest  evil 


26 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


of  the  day.  Fermented  liquors  containing  as  they 
do  only  a comparatively  small  percentage  of  al- 
cohol, it  was  thought  that  they  could  but  seldom 
he  drunk  in  sufficient  quantities  to  produce  intoxi- 
cation. The  pamphlet  enumerates  the  immediate 
effects  in  a fit  of  drunkenness,  the  symptoms  of 
“this  odious  disease  unusual  garrulity  or  silence ; 
captiousness  and  a disposition  to  quarrel;  uncom- 
mon good  humor;  profane  swearing  and  cursing; 
a disclosure  of  secrets;  a rude  disposition  to  tell 
persons  their  faults  in  company ; certain  immodest 
actions;  a clipping  of  words;  fighting,  hallooing, 
singing,  roaring,  imitating  the  noise  of  brute  ani- 
mals; jiunping,  tearing  off  clothes,  dancing  naked, 
breaking  glasses  and  china,  and  dashing  other  arti- 
cles of  household  furniture  upon  the  floor.  The 
paroxysm  of  drunkenness  is  at  length  completely 
formed.  “The  face  now  becomes  flushed,  the  eyes 
project  and  are  somewhat  watery,  winking  is  less 
frequent  than  natural ; the  undeiiip  is  protruded, 
the  head  inclines  a little  to  one  shoulder,  the  jaw 
falls,  belching  and  hiccough  take  place,  the  limbs 
totter — the  whole  body  staggers.  The  unfortunate 
subject  of  this  history  falls  on  his  seat;  he  looks 


The  Awakehihg  ; Modekatioh. 


27 


around  him  with  a vacant  countenance,  and  mut- 
ters inarticulate  sounds  to  himself ; he  attempts  to 
rise  and  walk.”  He  falls  on  his  side,  rolls  on  his 
back,  now  closes  his  eyes  and  falls  into  a heavy 
sleep.  In  this  condition  he  lies  from  ten,  twelve, 
and  twenty-four  hours,  to  two,  three,  four,  and  five 
days,  an  object  of  pity  and  disgust.  His  recovery 
from  this  fit  of  intoxication  is  marked  by  several 
peculiar  appearances.  “He  opens  his  eyes  and 
closes  them  again,  he  gapes  and  stretches  his  limbs, 
he  then  coughs  and  pukes,  his  voice  is  hoarse,  he 
rises  with  difficulty,  and  staggers  to  his  chair,  his 
eyes  resemble  balls  of  fire,  his  hands  tremble,  he 
loathes  the  sight  of  food,  he  calls  for  a glass  of 
spirits  to  compose  his  stomach,  now  and  then  he 
emits  a deep-fetched  sigh  or  groan  from  a tran- 
sient twinge  of  conscience ; but  he  more  frequently 
scolds  and  curses  everything  around  him.  In  this 
state  of  languor  and  stupidity  he  remains  for  two 
or  three  days  before  he  is  able  to  resume  his  former 
habits  of  business  and  conversation.” 

The  chronic  effects  of  the  habitual  use  of  ardent 
spirits  are  next  mentioned — decay  of  appetite ; 
sickness  at  stomach ; vomiting  of  bile ; obstructions 


28 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


of  the  liver;  jaundice  and  dropsy;  hoarseness  and 
a husky  cough,  terminating  often  in  fatal  disease 
of  the  lungs ; diabetes ; redness  and  eruptions  on 
the  body,  beginning  generally  on  the  nose;  fetid 
breath,  frequent  belchings ; epilepsy ; gout,  colic, 
/ palsy,  apoplexy;  lastly,  madness.  Spirits  predis- 
I pose  to  every  form  of  acute  disease.  The  solitary 
' instances  of  longevity,  now  and  then,  among  hard 
drinkers  “no  more  disprove  the  deadly  effects  of 
ardent  spirits  than  the  solitary  instances  of  recov- 
ery from  apparent  death  by  dro^vning  prove  that 
there  is  no  danger  to  life  from  a human  body  lying^ 
an  hour  or  two  under  water.” 

The  body,  after  death  from  ardent  spirits^ 
shows  upon  dissection — contraction  of  fibers  of 
stomach  and  bowels ; abscesses,  gangrene,  and 
scirrhi  in  the  viscera ; contraction  of  bronchial  ves- 
sels, blood  vessels,  and  tendons  in  many  parts  more 
or  less  ossified. 

’i  The  effects  of  ardent  spirits  upon  the  mind  are 
! pointed  out — the  impairing  of  the  memory,  weak- 
f ening  of  the  understanding,  and  perversion  of  the 
moral  faculties — falsehood,  fraud,  theft,  rmclean- 
ness,  murder.  The  soitow  and  shame  inflicted 


The  Awakehinh:  Moderation. 


29 


upon  the  family  and  kindred,  the  reproach  upon 
religion,  the  dilapidation  and  impoverishment  of 
house  and  possessions,  are  here  pictured. 

The  arguments  employed  to  support  the  com- 
mon use  of  ardent  spirits  are  then  taken  up: 
1.  That  they  are  necessary  in  very  cold  weather. 
The  author  shows  that  the  temporary  warmth  they 
produce  is  always  followed  by  a gTeater  disposition 
of  the  body  to  be  affected  by  cold,  and  suggests  that 
warm  clothing  and  a good  meal  are  a more  durable 
method  of  preserving  bodily  heat.  2.  That  ardent 
spirits  are  necessary  in  very  warm  weather.  Dr. 
Rush  shows  that  experience  proves  the  opposite; 
that  spirits  increase,  instead  of  lessening  the  effects 
of  heat  upon  the  body,  and  thereby  dispose  to  dis- 
eases of  all  kinds.  He  quotes  the  observations  of 
Dr.  Bell,  “that  rum,  whether  used  habitually,  mod- 
erately, or  in  excessive  quantities  in  the  West 
Indies,  always  diminishes  the  strength  of  the  body, 
and  renders  men  more  susceptible  of  disease,  and 
unfit  for  any  service  in  which  vigor  or  activity  is 
required.”  Rush  contends,  “as  well  might  we 
throw  oil  into  a house,  the  roof  of  which  was  on 
fire,  in  order  to  prevent  the  flames  from  extending 


30 


A Centuky  of  Deink  Refoem. 


to  the  inside,  as  pour  ardent  spirits  into  the  stom- 
ach to  lessen  the  effects  of  the  hot  sun  upon  the 
skin.”  3.  That  ardent  spirits  sustain  the  body  in 
hard  labor.  Dr.  Rush  points  to  the  horse,  “with 
every  muscle  of  his  body  swelled  from  morning  till 
night  in  the  plow” — does  he  make  signs  for  a 
draught  of  toddy,  or  a glass  of  spirits,  to  enable 
him  to  cleave  the  ground  or  climb  a hill  ? Xo,  he 
requires  nothing  but  cool  water  and  substantial 
food.  “There  is  no  nourishment  in  ardent  spirits. 
The  strength  they  produce  in  labor  is  of  a transient 
nature,  and  is  always  followed  by  a sense  of  w^eak- 
ness  and  fatigue.” 

The  only  safe  and  reasonable  course  for  those 
addicted  to  spirits  is  to  abstain  entirely  and  at 
once.  By  the  use  of  grog  and  toddy  men  have  been 
led  to  love  spirits  in  their  more  destructive  mix- 
tures. “Were  it  possible,”  Rush  cries,  “for  me  to 
speak  with  a voice  so  loud  as  to  be  heard  from  the 
river  St.  Croix  to  the  remotest  shores  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, I would  say:  Friends  and  fellow-citizens! 
avoid  the  habitual  use  of  those  two  seducing  liq- 
uors, whether  they  be  made  with  brandy,  rum,  gin, 
Jamaica  spirits,  Avhisky,  or  what  is  called  cherry 
bounce.” 


The  Awakening:  Moderation. 


31 


Let  those  in  authority  be  petitioned  to  limit  the 
number  of  taverns,  to  impose  heavy  duties  upon 
ardent  spirits,  to  inflict  a mark  of  disgrace  or  tem- 
porary abridgment  of  civil  rights  upon  every  man 
convicted  of  drunkenness,  and  to  place  the  property 
of  habitual  drunkards  into  the  hands  of  trustees 
for  the  benefit  of  their  families.  Let  the  different 
Christian  denominations  unite  to  make  the  con- 
sumption and  sale  of  ardent  spirits  a subject  of 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  the  Methodists  and  the 
Society  of  Friends  having  already  for  some  time 
past  viewed  them  as  contraband  articles  to  the  pure 
laws  of  the  Gospel.  “Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  of 
every  denomination  in  the  United  States,  aid  me 
with  all  the  weight  you  possess  in  society,  from  the 
dignity  and  usefulness  of  your  sacred  office,  to  save 
our  fellow-men  from  being  destroyed  by  the  great 
destroyer  of  their  lives  and  souls.” 

Such  a trumpet  blast  had  never  before  been 
heard.  So  strong  are  the  walls  of  custom  that  it 
did  not,  of  course,  lay  them  low  at  once,  hut  it 
caused  them  to  shake  and  become  less  secure,  from 
which  at  length  they  did  fall.  Of  all  of  Rush’s 
writings  this  was  the  most  widely  read.  The  year 


32 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


after  its  first  appearance  it  was  reprinted  in  the 
Gentleman  s Magazine  in  England.  Rush  made 
continued  and  special  efforts  to  extend  its  circula- 
tion, by  presenting  copies  to  the  clergy,  to  religious 
and  other  bodies,  and  by  personally  urging  the 
subject  upon  the  attention  of  men.  It  created  no 
immediate  organized  following.  That  day  had  not 
yet  come.  But  it  lodged  deeply  in  men’s  minds, 
it  being  the  first  time  that  a man  of  such  com- 
manding ability  and  fame  had  ever  attempted  to 
set  this  subject  forth  in  anything  like  a scientific 
form.  It  laid  foundations  for  those  that  were  to 
come  after. 

For  his  clear  temperance  convictions  Dr.  Rush 
was  doubtless  indebted,  to  some  extent,  to  his  own 
Quaker  ancestry,  and  to  his  association  with  men 
of  abstemious  habits,  notably  the  early  Methodist 
preachers,  such  men  as  A^bmry  and  Coke,  who  were 
frequently  entertained  beneath  his  hospitable  roof. 
The  Wesleys  had  taken  strong  grounds  against  the 
use  and  sale  of  spirituous  liquors,  a position  to 
which  the  practice  of  the  early  preachers  in  that 
d omination  generally  conformed. 


But  one  name  must  not  be  omitted — Anthony 


The  Awakening:  Modekation. 


33 


Benezet.  An  exile  with  the  Huguenots  from 
France,  he  became  a resident,  successively,  of  Hol- 
land, of  England  (where  as  a boy  he  united  with 
the  Society  of  Friends),  and  of  Philadelphia.  One 
of  the  kindliest  of  men,  his  philanthropic  impulse 
drew  him  forth  from  the  private  pursuit  of  teach- 
ing and  brought  him  before  the  world  to  advocate 
the  cause  of  the  oppressed.  The  black  man  found 
in  him  a warm  friend  and  zealous  champion.  He 
first  influenced  Dr.  Rush  to  take  up  the  question  of 
f slavery,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers — with  Rush, 
i;  Franklin,  and  others — of  the  first  anti-slavery  soci- 

iety.  Benezet  wrote  an  Historical  Account  of 
Guinea,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  a young  Eng- 
lish student,  Thomas  Clarkson,  and  determined  his 
future  career  as  an  abolitionist. 

Benezet  took  up  the  cause  of  the  Indian,  and 
helped  to  form,  in  1756,  “The  Friendly  Associ- 
ation for  Regaining  and  Preserving  Peace  with 
the  Indians  by  Pacific  Means.”  He  wrote  against 
war.  On  these  themes  he  carried  on  a voluminous 
correspondence,  including  the  royalty  and  nobility 
of  Europe  and  the  leading  men  in  Church  and 
State  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  May  3,  1784-, 


34 


A Centuky  of  Dbink;  Kefoem. 


was  a day  of  universal  grief — Bene’zet  was  dead. 
The  day  of  his  burial  brought  together  the  largest 
gathering  that  had  ever  assembled  on  a similar 
occasion  in  Philadelphia,  and  men  envied  the 
honors  of  Bcnezet  above  the  fame  of  General  Wash- 
ington. 

Both  by  his  example  and  by  the  labors  of  his 
pen  Benezet  was  one  of  the  notable  forerunners  of 
the  temperance  reformation.  A full  decade  before 
the  appearance  of  Dr.  Rush’s  essay  Benezet  had 
|N^vritten  a pamphlet  against  spirituous  liquors, 
I “The  Mighty  Destroyer  Displayed,”  warning 
I against  the  common  use  of  any  drink  “which  is 
: liable  to  steal  away  a man’s  senses  and  render  him 
foolish,  irascible,  uncontrollable,  and  dangerous.” 

Great  changes  come  slowly.  The  period  of  in- 
cubation is  long  in  proportion  as  the  idea  that  is 
working  itself  out  is  powerful  and  permanent.  An 
i agreement  among  the  farmers  in  Litchfield  County, 
Connecticut,  in  1789,  that  they  would  do  their 
work  in  harvest  without  furnishing  the  customary 
spirits,  shows,  among  other  instances,  that  the 
leaven  was  at  work. 

In  the  autumn  of  1799,  a yoiing  man  recently 


The  Awakening:  Moderation. 


35 


graduated  from  Yale  was  settled  as  minister  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church  at  East  Hampton,  Long 
Island.  His  observations,  during  a pastorate  of 
eleven  years  at  this  place,  prepared  him  to  become, 
later,  the  commanding  figure  in  the  early  temper- 
ance warfare.  The  Montauk  Indians  lived  near 
East  Hampton,  wild  tribes  who  for  a hundred 
years  “had  resisted  such  efforts  as  were  made  for 
their  evangelization,  and  yielded,  alas ! only  to 
those  which  tended  to  degrade  and  destroy  them.’’ 
“There  was  a grogseller  in  our  neighborhood,”  he 
wrote  afterward,  “who  drank  himself  and  cor- 
rupted others.  He  always  kept  his  jug  under  the 
bed  to  drink  in  the  night,  till  he  was  choked  oft’ 
by  death.  He  would  go  down  with  his  barrel  of 
whisky  in  a wagon  to  the  Indians  and  get  them 
tipsy  and  bring  them  in  debt ; he  would  get  all  their 
corn  and  bring  it  back  in  his  wagon — in  fact,  he 
stripped  them.  Then,  in  winter,  they  must  come 
up  twenty  miles,  buy  their  own  corn,  and  pack  it 
home  on  their  shoulders,  or  starve.  O ! it  was  hor- 
rible, horrible ! It  burned  and  burned  in  my  mind, 
and  I swore  a deep  oath  in  my  mind  that  it  should 
not  be  so.”  At  about  this  time,  too,  Dr.  Rush’s 


36 


A Centuey  of  Deenk  Refoem. 


essay  fell  into  liis  hands.  We  shall  hear  of  this 
young  man  again.  His  name  is  Lyman  Beecher — 
destined  to  make  the  name  famous. 

In  union  there  is  strength — strength  in  the  con- 
fidence and  courage  it  gives  the  individual  better 
to  defy  the  customs  and  prejudices  of  a people ; 
strength  in  conserving  views  thus  held  in  common, 
and  greater  effectiveness  in  the  propagation  of 
those  views.  Soon  after  entering  the  new  century 
t jwe  find  the  first  attempts  to  promote  temperance 
organized  effort.  The  first  efforts  in  this  direc- 
tion were  by  no  means  uniform  or  thoroughgoing. 
All  was  yet  crudest  experiment.  Han  had  not  the 
light  of  experience  to  guide  him.  That  something 
must  be  done,  they  agreed.  They  saw  as  through 
a glass  darkly,  and  felt  their  way.  The  first  soci- 
^ eties  were  largely  moderation  societies  simply. 

i]\Ien  were  aiming  not  so  much  at  drinking  as  at 
drunkenness,  and  members  of  the  early  temperance 
^ societies  were  pledged  generally  against  the  excess- 
• ive  use  of  spirits,  and  in  social  visits,  perhaps,  to 
, declinp  them  as  far  as  possible.  Drunkenness  was 


I prmished  either  with  a fine,  or  by  being  compelled 
5 to  treat  all  around.  In  one  instance,  after  signing 


The  Awakening:  Moderation. 


37 


I 


the  constitution,  the  members  all  took  a drink  at 
the  tavern  bar,  where  the  society  was  organized,  to 
show  the  world  an  example  of  true  moderation. 

One  of  the  first  distinctive  temperance  societies 
was  the  one  formed  at  Moreau,  in  Saratoga  County, 
!New  York,  in  1808.  This  was  a country  place  de- 
voted to  lumbering,  with  its  strong  temptations  to 
drinking.  Deeply  stirred,  an  intrepid  young  phy- 
sician, Billy  J.  Clark,  in  co-operation  with  the 
Congregational  minister,  Lehbeus  Armstrong,  took 
the  initiative  in  this  move  for  the  community’s 
redemption.  Borty-seven  signed  the  constitution 
of  the  temperance  society,  ;pledged  to  abstain  from 
the  use  of  ardent  spirits  and  wine,  except  in  case 
of  sickness,  also  excepting  wine  at  public  dinners 
and  at  communion.  For  breaking  this  rule  a fine 
of  twenty-five  cents  was  imposed,  and  for  actual 
intoxication  a fine  of  fifty  cents.  Dr.  Benjamin 
Rush  was  made  an  honorary  member  of  the  soci- 
ety— an  evidence  of  indebtedness  to  his  labors. 

Voices  are  now  beginning  to  be  heard  from  the 
pulpit.  Notable  among  these  is  a sermon  by  Rev. 
Ebenezer  !gpr^r.  Congregational  minister  at  W ash- 
ington,  Connecticut,  who  was  later  called  to  a pro- 


38 


A Centuey  of  Dk^k  Eefoem. 


fessorship  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary.  This 
sermon  was  preached  in  the  winter  of  1805-6,  the 
occasion  that  drew  it  forth  being  a man  found  dead 
in  the  snow,  with  a bottle  of  spirits  in  his  pocket. 
The  sermon  gave  statistics  on  the  extent  of  the  con- 
sumption of  strong  drink,  and  its  attendant  evils. 
It  warned  against  excessive  drinking;  cautioned 
parents  against  the  free  use  of  spirits  in  the  home, 
and  in  general  called  upon  men  to  have  a care. 

Ihe  sermon  awakened  inquiry,  and  a little  later 
was  called  for  in  pamphlet  form,  and  circulated  as 
a tract.  In  1810,  Rev.  Ileman  Humphrey,  of  Fair- 
field,  Connecticut,  afterwards  the  president  of  Am- 
herst College,  preached  a series  of  six  sermons  on 
the  subject  of  intemperance,  which  are  believed  to 
be  the  first  series  ever  given  on  this  theme.  The 
same  year,  Jeremiah  Evarts  (father  of  a famous 
son,  William  jM.  Evarts)  began  to  call  attention 
to  the  evils  of  intemperance  in  the  columns  of  the 
Panoplist  and  Missionary  Magazine,  of  which  he 
was  the  editor.  Rev.  Roswell  Swan,  of  Xorvvalk, 
and  Rev.  Calvin  Chapin,  of  Rockx'  Hill,  Connect- 
icut, whose  voice  was  also  heard  soon  after  this, 
were  among  the  very  first  to  advocate  entire  absti- 


The  Awakening;  Modeeation. 


39 


nence  from  spirits  as  the  only  remedy  for  intem- 
perance. 

The  year  1811  is  an  important  date  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  temperance  movement.  The  question 
of  intemperance  was  now  to  be  taken  up  by  the 
Churches,  and  to  form  henceforth  the  theme  of 
discussion  in  ecclesiastical  meetings.  The  immedi- 
ate agency  in  bringing  this  about  was,  again.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Rush.  At  the  regular  session  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
' convened  in  Philadelphia  in  May  of  that  year.  Dr. 
Rush  presented  that  body  with  one  thousand  copies 
of  his  essay  on  ardent  spirits,  which  had  already 
passed  through  several  editions.  He  made  an  ear- 

Inest  appeal  for  some  action  by  the  Assembly,  and 
induced  that  body  to  appoint  a committee  to  devise 
measures  for  combating  the  prevailing  intemper- 
ance, the  committee  to  report  at  the  next  annual 
meeting.  The  committee  thus  appointed  visited, 
or  corresponded  with,  the  General  Associations  of 
Congregational  Churches  in  the  different  Hew  Eng- 
land States  that  summer  and  fall,  and  secured  the 
appointment  of  like  committees  by  each,  to  make  a 
similar  report  at  their  respective  ecclesiastical 


40 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


gatherings  the  following  year.  Thus  did  this  fa- 
mous Philadelphia  physician  and  citizen,  on  the 
eve  of  his  going  hence  (he  died  within  two  years), 
render  effectual  the  labors  of  his  life,  and  launch 
a cause  freighted  with  untold  blessings  to  mankind. 
\ The  Committee  on  Temperance  appointed  by 
fh^  Assembly  the  preceding  year  made  a compre- 
I hensive  report  to  the  Presbyterian  General  Assem- 
I bly  of  1812.  The  report  did  not  explicitly  recom- 
j mend  entire  abstinence,  but  came  close  to  it.  [Min- 
isters were  urged  to  warn  their  members  and  hear- 
ers “not  only  against  actual  intemperance,  but 
against  all  those  habits  and  indulgences  which  may 
have  a tendency  to  produce  it,”  and  by  sermons, 
addresses,  and  tracts  to  create  public  sentiment, 
“or  a suitable  impression  against  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits.”  In  1818  the  General  Assembly  declared 
against  the  custom  of  treating,  “except  in  extraor- 
dinary cases,”  and  planted  itself  on  the  principle 
that  men  ought  to  abstain  from  the  common  use  of 
ardent  spirits. 

A perceptible  influence  became  manifest  in  the 
Methodist  Church  also  at  this  time.  The  practice 
of  this  Church  with  respect  to  temperance  had 


The  Awakening:  Moderation. 


41 


^steadily  declined  for  more  than  two  decades,  until 
j|  now  it  had  reached  its  lowest  level,  f Drinking  had 
f become  quite  general  among  its  members,  and  was 
not  infrequent  among  its  clergy ; while  many  mem- 
bers, and  not  a few  preachers,  were  among  those 
who  dealt  in  ardent  spirits.  ! The  ypnr  1 SJ-Q-marks 
the  turning  poirit  froTp  thik-Gonditiori . The  Gen- 
, eral  Conference  of  that  year — the  first  representa- 
tive or  delegated  General  Conference — took  up  the 
ibject  in  an  address  to  the  Church.  ‘Tt  is  with 
regret  that  we  have  seen  the  use  of  ardent  spirits, 
dram-drinking,  etc.,  so  common  among  the  Meth- 
odists. We  have  endeavored  to  suppress  the  prac- 
tice by  our  example,  but  it  is  necessary  that  we  add 
precept  to  example.  And  we  really  think  it  not 
consistent  with  the  character  of  a Christian  to  be 
immersed  in  the  practice  of  distilling  or  retailing 
an  article  so  destructive  to  the  morals  of  society, 
and  we  do  most  earnestly  recommend  the  Annual 
Conferences  and  our  people  to  join  with  us  in  mak- 
ing a firm  and  constant  stand  against  the  evil  which 
has  ruined  thousands  both  in  time  and  in  eternity.” 
At  subsequent  quadrennial  Conferences  the  subject 
was  constantly  agitated,  conspicuously  by  the  ener- 


42 


A Centuey  of  Deiistk  Refoem. 


getic  Rev.  James  Axley,  and  the  Discipline  became 
gi’adnally  more  stringent. 

A tremor  was  felt  in  other  bodies  also.  But 
the  developments  of  chiefest  importance  were  those 
’■^mong  the  Congregational  Churches  in  Connecticut 
/^d  in  Massachusetts.  The  General  Association 
of  Connecticut  met  in  June  of  1812  at  Sharon.  A 
committee  of  three  on  Temperance,  appointed  the 
year  before  upon  overtures  by  the  committee  of  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly  already  mentioned, 
brought  in  its  report.  Deploring  the  widespread 
evils  of  intemperance,  the  committee  confessed  that 
after  the  most  prayerful  consideration  they  did  not 
see  that  anything  could  he  done.  l\Tiereupon  Rev. 
Ljunan  Beecher,  recently  settled  at  Litchfield,  rose 
instantly  to  his  feet,  moved  that  the  committee  be 
discharged,  and  another  committee  of  three  be  ap- 
jpointed,  to  report  at  that  same  meeting  the  ways 
land  means  of  arresting  the  tide  of  intemperance. 
Beecher,  as  chairman,  brought  in  a report  the  next 
I day — the  most  important  paper,  he  says  after- 
ards,  that  he  ever  wrote.  It  recommended — 

- 1.  Sermons  on  the  subject  by  aU  ministers  of 

the  Association. 


The  Awakening;  Moderation, 


43 


I 2,  That  District  Associations  put  away  spirit- 
uous liquors  from  ecclesiastical  meetings. 

3.  That  Church  members  abstain  from  unlaw- 
ful vending,  or  from  purchase  and  use  when  unlaw- 
fully vended ; and  to  cease  using  spirits  as  a means 
of  hospitality. 

4.  That  parents  cease  from  the  ordinary  use 
of  ardent  spirits  in  the  family,  and  warn  their  chil- 
dren against  the  dangers  of  intemperance. 

5.  That  farmers  and  mechanics  and  manufac- 
turers substitute  palatable  and  nutritious  drinks, 
and  give  additional  compensation,  if  necessary,  to 
their  employees. 

6.  To  circulate  documents  on  the  subject,  espe- 
cially a sermon  by  Eev.  Ehenezer  Porter,  and  Dr. 
Rush’s  essay, 

7.  To  form  voluntary  associations  to  aid  civil 
magistrates  in  the  execution  of  the  law. 

The  report  called  upon  the  Association  “most 
earnestly  to  entreat  their  brethren  in  the  ministry, 
the  members  of  our  Churches,  and  the  persons  who 
lament  and  desire  to  check  the  progress  of  this  evil, 
that  they  neither  express  nor  indulge  the  melan- 
choly apprehension  that  nothing  can  be  done  on 


44 


A Centuky  of  Deink  Refoem. 


this  subject,  a prediction  eminently  calculated  to 
paralyze  exertion,  and  to  become  the  disastrous 
cause  of  its  own  fulfillment.”  Such  spirit  had  in 
it  an  augury  of  a better  day.  ‘^Our  cause  is  indeed 
an  evil  one,  but  not  hopeless.”  The  report,  after  a 
discussion  of  unwonted  zeal  and  earnestness,  was 
adopted,  and  a thousand  copies  were  ordered  to  be 
printed. 

At  the  next  year’s  Association  the  reports  were 
.most  encouraging.  Spirits  had  been  banished  from 
ecclesiastical  meetings ; ministers  had  preached, 
and  Churches  generally  approved ; the  use  of  spir- 
its in  the  family  had  diminished ; the  attention  of 
the  community  was  awakened,  and  the  current  of 
public  opinion  was  beginning  to  turn;  a “Society 
for  the  Reformation  of  Morals”  had  been  organ- 
ized, and  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  other  States  had 
commenced  efforts  against  the  common  enemy. 

Chief  among  the  last  named  bodies  was  the 
General  Association  of  Massachusetts.  Here  too 
a temperance  committee  had  been  appointed  at  the 
meeting  in  1811,  with  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  of 
Salem,  as  chairman.  After  several  meetings  and 
conferences  with  others,  an  organization  was  ef- 


The  Awakening:  Modekation. 


45 


fected,  in  February,  1813,  called  “The  Massachu- 
setts Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Intemper- 
ance.” Its  object  was  “to  discountenance  and  sup- 
I press  the  too  free  use  of  ardent  spirits  and  its  kin- 
dred vices,  profaneness  and  gaming ; and  to  encour- 
age and  promote  temperance  and  general  moral- 
^ity.”  Hon.  Samuel  Dexter,  a distinguished  Bos- 
ton lawyer,  who  had  been  both  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  and  Secretary  of  War  in  Adams’s  Cab- 
/inet,  was  elected  president  of  the  society.  This 
organization,  if  not  the  most  advanced  in  its  prin- 
ciples, was  yet  the  largest  and  most  important  soci- 
I ety  that  had  thus  far  been  brought  into  being.  At 
each  annual  meeting  a sermon  dealing  with  intem- 
perance was  preached  by  some  well-known  clergy- 
man. In  the  third  annual  report,  for  the  year 
1815,  thirty-three  societies  were  reported  organized 
in  the  different  parts  of  the  Commonwealth,  auxil- 
iary to  this  parent  society. 

.During  the  next  ten  years  the  leaven  was  work- 
ing on,  slowly  on  the  whole,  but  surely.  Ho  dis- 

Itinct  or  notable  achievement  is  recorded  for  these 
years  in  the  temperance  reform.  The  War  of  1812 

. had  brought  its  distracting  influence,  while  the 

% 


46 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


Congregational  Churclies  in  liew  England,  from 
I whose  ranks  the  chief  impulse  to  early  temperance 
I came,  were  absorbed,  since  1815,  in  a spirited 
I controversy  over  Unitarianism.  Sermons  on  tem- 
^ perance,  however,  became  more  frequent,  and  local 
temperance  societies  slowly  multipled,  with  rules 
varying  in  scope  and  strictness.  Here  and  there 
I a Church  was  beginning  to  refuse  membership  to 
[ any  who  used  or  dealt  in  spirits.  The  press,  too, 
j was  now  and  then  clearing  its  throat  as  if  to  speak. 

' Among  the  publications  of  this  time  Avas  a pam- 
j phlet  or  book  by  Eei^  Mason  L.  Weems,  late  rector 
of  General  Washington’s  parish,  and  author  of  a 
“Life  of  Washington.”  By  1818  it  had  passed 
through  six  editions  in  as  many  years.  Its  title 
was  “The  Drunkard’s  Looking  Glass,”  “wherein 
the  American  youth  may  behold  a most  terrific  yet 
true  picture  of  that  monster  vice,  which  every  year 
swallows  up  more  precious  life,  property,  and  char- 
acter in  the  United  States  than  do  the  Erench,  the 
British,  the  yellow  fever,  and  all  our  enemies  (pub- 
lic and  private)  put  together.” 

Another  pamphlet  was  in  the  form  of  an  ad- 
dress to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  “The  In- 


The  Awakening:  Moderation. 


47 


I tellectual  Torch/’  by  Dr.  Jesse  Torrey,  Jr.,  which 
j developed  an  original  plan  for  the  dissemination 
f of  knowledge  and  virtue  by  means  of  free  public 

I libraries.  ‘^While  in  health  taste  not  a single  drop 

of  ardent  spirits,”  it  urged  in  a chapter  on  strong 

I drink.  The  author  circulated  petitions  to  the  Presi- 

i dent  and  to  Congress,  to  provide  legislation  for 

I this  purpose ; and  for  the  pnrpose  of  discouraging 

j 

' intemperance  to  levy  a tax  of  fifty  cents  a gallon 
upon  native  spirits,  and  of  one  dollar  upon  wines 
and  spirits  imported.  Mr.  Weems,  in  his  pam- 
phlet just  quoted,  in  addition  to  more  religious 
training,  also  advocates  taxation.  So  specious  is 
this  taxation  argument  that  it  has  not  failed  to  cap- 
tivate and  carry  away  even  the  very  elect.  Could 
a heavy  tax  but  be  laid  on  the  twenty-five  million 
gallons  of  spirits  distilled  annually  in  the  United 
States,  so  it  was  argued  by  Weems,  what  a revenue 
“to  scatter  in  blessings  through  the  land,  improv- 
ing the  canals  and  roads,  encouraging  the  arts  and 
sciences,  multiplying  churches  and  free  schools, 
and  thus  rendering  our  country  the  delight  and 
glory  of  the  earth !”  The  fallacy  and  mischief  of 
this  policy  as  a temperance  measure  was  to  be 


48 


A Century  of  Deink  Eefoem. 


/ 


amply  demonstrated  when,  in  the  later  stages  of 
the  reform,  it  was  put  into  actual  operation. 

A pioneer  work  in  every  reform  is  the  gather- 
ing of  facts.  It  is  facts  alone  which  can  break 
down  the  barriers  of  custom  and  prejudice.  Ail 
theories  and  notions  and  philosophies  must  give 
way  before  facts.  In  the  use  of  this  method  of 
presenting  facts  and  actual  results,  and  of  drawing 
logical,  masterful’  deductions  therefrom,  no  man 
exceeded,  or  perhaps  equaled,  the  Eev.  Justin  Ed- 
wards, of  Andover,  Massachusetts.  It  was  he  who 
was  to  give  the  cl^ief  impetus  in  starting  the  tem- 
perance reform  u^n  a new  epoch  presently.  In 
1825  appeared  a pi^mphlet  by  Dr.  Edwards,  en- 
titled, “The  Well-c)^nducted  Farm.”  This  was 
widely  circulated  as  a\ract — Ho.  176,  in  the  Amer- 
ican Tract  Society’s  si^es.  It  gave  the  results  of 
the  banishment  of  strong  drink  from  the  extensive 


farming  establishment  of  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq., 
at  Bolton,  in  Worcester  County.  The  advantages 
I accruing  to  the  Avorkmen  from  the  practice  of  absti- 
nence AA'ere  shown  to  have  been ; better  appetite  for 
food,  with  greater  vigor  of  body  and  mind;  they 
were  freer  from  sickness,  doing  more  work  and 


The  Awakening:  Modekation. 


49 


with  greater  ease;  accuniHlating  more  property, 

I happier.  The  advantages  to  the  employer  Avere; 

I . 

^ the  men  did  more  work,  and  did  it  better ; the  prem- 
ises were  kept  in  better  repair,  and  things  were  in 
their  place;  the  farm  was  better  worked,  and  the 
crops  gathered  in  better  season ; the  dumb  animals, 
under  kinder  treatment,  were  more  gentle ; the  men 
were  more  respectful  in  deportment,  more  con- 
tented, more  interested  in  religion  and  in  the  wel- 
fare of  all  about  them.  It  was  then  pointed  out 
what  beneficial  results  would  follow  if  the  prin- 
ciple of  abstinence  were  adopted  throughout  the 
country. 

/ At  this  point,  where  the  twilight  of  the  old 
passes  over  into  the  dawn  of  a new  day,  stand  the 
amous  Six  Sermons  by  Rev.  layman  Beecher. 


They  Avere  preached  during  the  last  year  of 
Beecher’s  pastorate  at  Litchfield,  in  1825,  and  Avere 
repeated  soon  after  his  settlement  in  the  Hanover 
Street  Church  in  Boston,  where  he  went  in  March, 
1826.  The  immediate  occasion  that  drew  them 
forth  was  a convert’s  relapse  on  strong  drink  at  a 
country  place,  called  Bradleysville,  about  four 
miles  out  from  Litchfield.  Beecher  used  to  preach 
4 


50 


A Cektury  of  Drink  Reform. 


there  on  Sunday  afternoons,  and  on  the  occasion  of 
^ this  visit  there  he  found  the  young  man  in  bed, 
and  his  wife  weeping.  He  took  in  the  situation  at 
once,  and  riding  home  said  to  himself,  “It  is  now 
I or  never.”  He  immediately  worked  out  six  ser- 
/ mons  “on  the  Hature,  Occasions,  Signs,  Evils,  and 
I Remedy  of  Intemperance,”  which  were  printed  in 
a year  or  two,  then  translated  into  several  tongues, 
and  circulated  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  They  did 
/more  than  any  other  single  similar  agency  in  cre- 
* ating  a distinct  temperance  sentiment,  and  for 
years  afterwards  were  looked  upon  as  the  standard 
authority  on  this  subject. 

Beecher’s  language  is  unequivocal.  “The  time 
is  not  distant,  we  trust,  when  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits  will  be  proscribed  by  a vote  of  all  the 
Churches  in  our  land,  and  the  commerce  in  that 
article  shall,  equally  with  the  slave-trade,  be  re- 
garded as  inconsistent  with  a creditable  profession 
of  Christianity.”  He  had  a profound  grasp  of 
the  subject,  and  recognized  far  in  advance  some 
of  the  later  real  difficulties  of  the  problem.  Spread 

/information,  he  urges,  concerning  the  effects  of 
spirits,  and  form  voluntary  associations  for  ahsti- 


The  Awakening:  Modekation. 


51 


nence.  Yet  these  will  not  prove  sufEcient.  Some- 
thing more  than  knowledge  or  argument  will  be 
needed;  thirst  and  the  love  of  filthy  lucre  are  in- 
corrigible. The  disease  is  deep-seated.  There  is 
r somewhere  a mighty  energy  of  evil  at  work  in  the 
production  of  intemperance.  Intemperance  in  onr 
land  is  not  accidental;  it  is  rolling  in  upon  us  by 
the  violation  of  some  great  laws  of  human  nature. 
The  remedy  must  lie  in  the  application  of  correct 
i principles,  and  must  be  universal,  national.  What 
ps  this  remedy  ? ‘‘It  is  the  banishment  of  ardent 
I spirits  from  the  list  of  lawful  articles  of  commerce 
by  a correct  and  efficient  public  sentiment,  such 
as  has  turned  slavery  out  of  half  our  land,  and 
will  yet  expel  it  from  the  world.” 

And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  fi.rst 
day. 


(H.) 

CHAPTEE  II. 


Peogkession  : Abstinence. 

1826-1851. 

First  Period:  1826-1836.  Abstinence  from  Spirits. 


On  February  13,  1826,  “The  American  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  TenipCTahce’"  was  fomed  in 
Boston,  This  marks  a new  epoch  in  the  reform. 
The  hapless,  unfruitful  labors  of  the  years  previous 
had  taught  their  lesson.  Out  of  the  varied  experi- 
menting one  conclusion  was  beginning  to  stand  out 
with  growing  clearness ; namely,  that  the  only 
practical,  effective  remedy  for  intemperance  is  en- 
tire abstinence.  The  philosophy  of  moderation  was 
daily  demonstrating  its  failure.  Temperance  men 
had  hitherto  sought,  for  the  most  part,  to  regulate 
the  use  of  strong  drink,  not  to  abolish  it.  They  had 
bewailed  the  effect,  yet  perpetuated  the  cause. 
While  one  reformed  drunkard  was  being  saved, 
their  own  habits,  if  followed  by  others,  would  make 
twenty  more. 


52 


Progression  : Abstinence. 


53 


Consequently,  in  spite  of  all  pledges  and  labors 
of  moderation,  intemperance  went  on  apace.  ISTot 
that  men  wanted  to  be  drunken,  or  did  not  recog- 
nize the  voice  of  reason,  but  because  there  is  some- 
. thing  in  the  very  nature  of  strong  drink  that  leads 
I to  excess.  A little  drinking  tempts  to  more  drink- 
I ing,  which  men  can  not  or  do  not  resist ; which  re- 
I suits  in  intoxication ; which  tends  to  repeat  itself ; 
* which  ends  in  confirmed  drunkenness.  Men  were 
thus  beginning  to  see  that  to  combat  drunkenness 
efforts  must  be  directed  against  the  habit  of  drink- 
ing itself,  the  root  ^'from  which  this  upas-tree 
springs.”  But  to  bring  about  such  a change  in 
public  sentiment  and  custom  demanded  larger 
plans  and  means  of  work  than  had  yet  been  em- 
ployed. After  prayer  and  consultation  on  this  sub- 
ject, by  a few  earnest  men,  a conference  was  called 
of  representatives  of  the  various  Christian  denomi- 
nations, to  meet  in  Boston  on  January  10,  1826. 
At  this  meeting  it  was  resolved  that  systematic  and 
vigorous  efforts  on  a larger  scale  be  put  forth,  com- 
mensurate with  the  evil,  and  continued  until  it  is 
t eradicated ; that  to  this  end  an  American  Temper- 
I ance  Society  be  organized,  and  a permanent  sal- 


54 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


aried  agent  employed  to  give  his  entire  time  to  the 
Avork.  At  an  adjourned  meeting,  on  February 
13th,  a constitution  Avas  adopted,  and  the  folloAv- 
ing  persons  Avere  chosen  hy  the  members  of  the 
meeting  to  constitute  the  Society:  Rev.  Leonard 
IVoods,  Rev.  William  Jenks,  Rev.  Justin  Edivards, 
ReA\  Warr'en  Fay,  Rev.  Benjamin  B.  Wisner,  Rev. 
Francis  Wayland,  Rca^  Timothy  Werritt,  Hon. 
Marcus  Morton,  Hon.  Samuel  Hubbard,  Hon.  Wil- 
liam Reed,  Hon.  George  Odiorne,  John  Tappan, 
Esq.,  William  Ropes,  Esq.,  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq., 
J ames  P.  Chaplin,  M.  D.,  and  Enoch  Hale,  M.  D. 
At  its  first  meeting,  the  Society  elected  Hon.  Mar- 
cus Morton  as  its  president,  and  Leonard  Woods, 
Justin  EdAvards,  John  Tappan,  George  Odiorne, 
and  S.  V.  S.  Wilder  as  the  Executive  Committee. 
At  the  second  meeting  eighty-four  men  from  the 
Middle  and  Northern  States  Avere  chosen  as  addi- 
ional  members  of  the  Society. 

Though  the  basis  of  this  Society  Avas  really 
entire  abstinence  from  ardent  spirits,  it  Avas  not 
explicitly  so  stated  at  first  in  the  constitution,  nor 
Avas  it  exacted  as  a pledge,  for  motives  of  pru- 
dence, doubtless.  The  original  object,  as  stated 


Progression  : Abstinence. 


55 


in  the  constitution,  was  ‘‘to  produce  such  a change 
of  public  sentiment,  and  such  a renovation  of  the 
habits  of  individuals  and  the  customs  of  the  com- 
munity, that  in  the  end  temperance,  with  all  its 
attendant  blessings,  may  universally  prevail.”  To 
accomplish  this  object,  one  of  the  modes  of  oper- 
ation propo^d  was  “to  do  whatever  is  practicable 
and  expedient  toward  the  forming  of  voluntary 
associations,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  ends 
of  the  Society.”  The  first  such  association,  or 
temperance  society,  however,  planted  itself 
squarely  on  entire  abstinence.  This  was  the  soci- 
ety at  Andover,  the  home  of  Justin  Edwards, 
organized  on  September  1st  of  that  same  year. 
E^re  a^stmence^^hecame  thenceforward  the  ac- 
cepted principle  of  societies  that  were  later  formed 
under  the  auspices  of  this  parent  Society.  The 
iMassicEteeff^Society  for  the  Suppression  of  In- 
*temperance,  which  since  its  organization  in  1813 
had  stood  upon  a platform  of  moderation,  and 
whose  work  had  for  a number  of  years  languished, 
in  ISTovember,  1827,  recommended  the  practice  of 
entire  abstinence,  making  it  a few  years  later  a 
part  of  its  constitution. 


A Centuky  of  Dkink  Refoem. 


The  first  permanent  general  agent  of  the  Amer- 
ican Temperance  Society  was  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Hewit,  of  Fairfield,  Connecticut.  Hewit  was  a 
man  of  great  power  over  an  audience,  and  was 
already  known  to  have  preached  with  effect  on  the 
subject  of  temperance.  During  his  three  years’ 
service  he  visited  the  R^ew  England  and  many  of 
the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  addressing 
Churches,  conferences,  ecclesiastical  and  other 
bodies.  He  wrought  effectually  in  those  pioneer 
days,  and  has  been  called  the  Luther  of  the  early 
temjDerance  reform.  Under  the  general  agent. 
State  and  district  agents  were  appointed.  The 
work  grew,  and  societies  sprang  up  everywhere. 

The  labors  of  the  American  Temperance  Soci- 
ety were  powerfully  re-enforced  by  addresses  and 
publications  of  various  kinds.  Early  in  1S2S, 
iRev.  Calvin  Chapin  had  begun,  with  caustic  pen, 
la  series  of  thirty-three  articles  in  the  Connecticut 
johserver,  on  “The  Only  Infallible  Antidote” — 
I entire  abstinence,  the  truth  of  which  was  strik- 
’ ingly  illustrated.  On  March  4th,  the  same  year, 
less  than  a month  after  the  American  Temperance 
Society  was  organized,  there  appeared  in  Boston 


Peogeessiok  : Abstinence.  57 

the  first  paper  ever  established  to  advocate  entire 
abstinence,  The  National  Philanthropist.  It  was 
founded  by  Rev.  William  Collier,  a Baptist  min- 
ister, a graduate  of  Brown  University.  Its  motto 
was.  Temperate  drinking  is  the  down-hill  road 
to  drunkenness.  After  the  second  month  it  be- 
came a regular  weekly  paper.  A few  years  later'^ 
it  was  edited  for  a time  by  William  Lloyd  Garri- 
son, who  wrote:  “When  this  paper  was  first  pro- 
posed it  met  with  a repulsion  which  would  have 
utterly  discouraged  a less  zealous  and  persevering 
man  than  our  predecessor.  The  moralist  looked 
on  doubtfully;  the  whole  community  esteemed  the 
enterprise  desperate.  By  extraordinary  efforts 
and  under  appalling  disadvantages  the  first  num- 
ber was  given  to  the  public,  and  since  that  time  it 
has  gradually  expanded  in  size  and  increased  in 
circulation  till  doubt  and  prejudice  and  ridicule 
have  been  swept  away.”  That  a paper  directly 
devoted  to  temperance  might  become  a power  in 
the  reform  had  evidently  not  occurred  to  the 
people. 

I Early  in  1827  the  country  was  stirred  by  an 

I address  given  at  Lyme,  New  Hampshire,  on  Janu- 


58 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


I ary  8th,  by  Jonathan  Kittredge,  one  of  the  ablest 
I lawyers  and  jurists  of  his  generation.  It  was  a 
fearful  iudictment  of  moderate  drinking,  and  cre- 
j ated  a great  sensation.  He  speaks  thus:  “But  we 
I are  apt  to  think  that  the  wretches  whom  we  see 
/ and  have  described  were  always  so ; that  they  "were 
^ out  of  miserable  and  degraded  families ; and  that 
they  are  walking  in  the  road  in  which  they  were 
I born.  But  this  is  not  so.  Among  the  number  may 
I be  found  a large  proportion  who  were  as  lovely  in 
their  infancy,  as  promising  in  their  youth,  and 
as  useful  in  early  life,  as  your  OAvn  children,  and 
have  become  drunkards — I repeat  it,  and  let  it 
never  he  forgotten — have  become  drunkards  by 
the  temperate,  moderate,  and  habitual  use  of  ar- 
dent spirits,  just  as  you  use  them  now.  Were  it 
not  for  this  use  of  ardent  spirits,  we  should  not 
now  hear  of  drunken  senators  and  drunken  magis- 
I trates,  of  drunken  lawyers  and  drunken  doctors ; 
• Churches  would  not  now  be  mourning  over 
. drunken  ministers  and  drunken  members ; jiarents 
would  not  now  he  weeping  over  drunken  children, 
wives  over  drunken  husbands,  husbands  over 
drunken  wives,  and  angels  over  a drunken  world. 

“He  who  advises  men  not  to  drink  to  excess 


Pkogeession  : Abstinence. 


69 


may  lop  off  the  branches ; he  who  advises  them 
to  drink  only  on  certain  occasions  may  fell  the 
trunk;  but  he  who  tells  them  not  to  drink  at  all 
strikes  and  digs  deep  for  the  roots  of  the  hideous 
vice  of  intemperance;  and  this  is  the  only  course 
to  pursue.  . . . Let  those  who  can  not  be  re- 

claimed go  to  ruin,  and  the  quicker  the  better  if 
you  regard  only  the  public  good ; but  save  the  rest 
of  our  population ; save  yourselves ; save  your  chil- 
I dren!  Raise  not  up  an  army  of  drunkards  to 
f supply  their  places  ! Purify  your  houses  ! They 
contain  the  plague  of  death — the  poison  that  in  a 
few  years  will  render  some  of  your  little  ones  what 
the  miserable  wretches  that  you  see  staggering  the 
streets  are  now.  ...  As  long  as  you  keep  ar- 
dent spirits  in  your  houses,  as  long  as  you  drink 
it  yourselves,  as  long  as  it  is  polite  and  genteel 
to  sip  the  intoxicating  bowl,  so  long  society  will 
remain  just  what  it  is  now  and  so  long  drunkards 
will  spring  from  your  loins,  and  so  long  drunkards 
will  wear  your  names  to  future  generations.  And 
there  is  no  way  given  under  heaven  whereby  man 
can  be  saved  from  the  vice  of  intemperance  but 
that  of  total  abstinence/' 


60 


A Centuet  of  Deink  Eefoem. 


This  address  was  issued  by  the  American 
Tract  Society  as  l^o.  221  in  their  series,  and  was 
spread  abroad  by  the  hundred  thousands.  A little 
later,  the  same  year,  came  the  famous  address  by 
Reuben  D.  Mussey,  Professor  of  Anatomy  and 
Surgery  at  Dartmouth,  before  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Medical  Society,  of  which  he  was  president. 
This  address,  too,  insisting  that  spirits  are  not 
essential  to  health,  or  indispensable  even  in  medi- 
cine, was  widely  read,  and  made  a deep  impres- 
^on.  About  this  time  also,  Beecher’s  Six  Ser- 
mons appeared  in  print,  and  entered  upon  their 
W^orld-wide  mission.  Among  the  other  effective 
publications  during  the  first  five  years  following 
the  formation  of  the  American  Temperance  Soci- 
ety were : “Discourses  on  Intemperance,”  by  Rev. 
John  Palfrey,  of  Boston;  “Effects  of  Spirituous 
Liquors  on  Society,”  by  S.  Emlen,  M.  D.,  of 
Philadelphia ; “Twelve  Essays  on  Intemperance,” 
by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  of  Morristo^vn,  New  Jer- 
sey, later  of  Philadelphia;  a masterly  “Parallel 
between  Intemperance  and  the  Slave  Trade,”  by 
lleman  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  President  of  Amherst ; 
“Putnam  and  the  Wolf,”  an  address  by  Rev.  John 


Pkogression  : Abstinence. 


61 


Marsh,  of  Haddam,  Connecticut,  given  at  Pom- 
fret,  where  the  famous  hunt  by  this  Eevolutionary 
hero  took  place;  Professor  Edward  Hitchcock’s 
“Argument  against  the  Manufacture  of  Spirits,” 
and  “Prize  Essay  on  Alcoholic  and  Harcotic  Sub- 
stances;” Professor  Moses  Stuart’s  prize  essay 
on  the  subject,  “Is  the  Use  of  Distilled  Liquors 
and  the  Traffic  in  Them  at  Present  Compatible 
with  a Profession  of  the  Christian  Religion  ?” 
Addresses  by  Dr.  Thomas  Sewall  in  Washington, 
General  Lewis  Cass  in  Detroit,  and  Rev.  Mr.  ]\Ic- 
Ilvaine  in  Brooklyn;  lastly,  the  Annual  Reports 
of  the  American  Temperance  Society. 

At  the  opening  of  the  ’30’s  the  Churches  had 
argely  planted  themselves  on  the  principle  oLcn- 
ice,_3^fmence.  The  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  on  an  awakening  conscience, 
had  appointed  the  fourth  Thursday  of  January, 
1829,  as  a day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  which  was 
generally  observed,  even  outside  that  denomina- 
tion. The  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Hew 
York  Legislature  adjourned  for  that  day,  to  attend 
worship  in  a body,  in  the  city  of  Albany.  Exten- 
sive revivals  of  religion  followed.  This  was  in 


62 


A Centuky  of  Drink  Eefoem. 


fact  true  wherever  temperance  activity  had  made 
I itself  felt.  Merchants  gave  up  the  sale  of  ardent 
I spirits  in  their  stores,  distillers  and  retailers  aban- 
■ doned  the  business  entirely,  under  the  stress  of 
moral  conviction.  Young  men  who  could  he  in- 
duced to  abandon  the  cup  were  more  easily  brought 
under  the  influence  of  religion.  So  manifestly 
was  this  the  case  everywhere  that  the  temperance 
reformation  came  to  be  called  the  John  the  Baptist 
of  the  Gospel. 

^ A large  service  was  rendered  to  temperance, 
particularly  in  his  own  denomination,  by  Wilbur 
Fisk,  one  of  the  best  educated  and  strongest 
preachers  in  the  Methodist  Church  in  his  day.  He 
threw  himself  into  the  temperance  movement  at 
the  very  commencement  of  this  epoch,  and  gave 
his  active  support  to  the  American  Temperance 
Society  when  his  denomination  yet  stood  aloof. 
In  his  persistent  effort  to  free  the  Methodist 
Church  from  the  venders  of  ardent  spirits,  he  en- 
countered no  little  hostility,  and  persecution  even, 
j but  he  won  out.  In  1832  he  sent  out  his  “Address 
to  the  members  of  the  Methodist  Church  on  the 
subject  of  Temperance,”  to  induce  those  Avho  still 


Progression  : Abstinence. 


63 


refused  to  come  over  to  abandon  the  business. 
“The  Christian’s  dramshop ! Sound  it  to  your- 
self,” he  protests,  in  mingled  indignation  and  ap- 
peal. Two  years  before  this  he  had  been  elected 
president  of  Wesleyan  University,  just  established 
at  Middletown,  Connecticut — the  first  president 
of  this  first  Methodist  university. 
f Many  college  presidents  entered  actively  into 
I the  early  reform.  There  were,  Francis  Wayland, 
/of  Brown  University;  Eliphalet  Uott,  of  Union 
I College;  Heman  Humphrey,  of  Amherst;  Mark 
I Hopkins,  of  Williams;  Jesse  Appleton,  of  Bow- 
/ doin;  Hathan  Lord,  of  Dartmouth;  and  Jeremiah 
< Day,  of  Yale.  Of  these  Heman  Humphrey  was  the 
first  to  advocate  entire  abstinence,  years  before 
the  American  Temperance  Society  was  formed. 
Eliphalet  Hott  became  a zealous  temperance  ad- 
vocate contemporaneous  with  the  organization  of 
that  Society.  Both  as  an  educator  and  a pulpit 
orator  Hott  was  unsurpassed.  In  July,  1804, 
upon  invitation  by  the  Common  Council  of  Al- 
bany, where  he  served  as  pastor,  he  preached  a 
memorial  discourse  upon  the  death  of  Alexander 
Hamilton,  a personal  friend  and  a frequent  at- 


64 


A CEifTUKY  OF  Drink  Eeform. 


/ 

I 


tendant  at  his  Church.  The  discourse  became  fa- 
mous, being,  in  the  language  of  a contemporary- 
journalist,  “one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  highly 
finished  productions  of  the  kind  which  this  coun- 
try has  produced.”  This  same  year  Dr.  is’ott  was 
called  to  the  presidency  of  Union  College  at 
Schenectady,  then  in  its  infancy;  in  which  capac- 
ity he  served  an  unprecedented  term  of  sixty-two 
years — a man  of  wide  and  varied  learning,  the 
oracle  of  student  and  of  statesman,  conspicuous 
early  advocate  of  the  temperance  and  anti-slavery 
reforms.  In  the  terrific  and  telling  vividness  with 
which  he  pictured  the  evils  of  intemperance  he 
was  excelled  by  no  man. 

, With  such  men  leadiilg,  or  lending  their  aid 
to  the  reform;  with  Churches  standing  on  absti- 
nence, or  coming  over,  and  medical  societies  de- 
claring for  it ; with  thousands  abandoning  the 
traffic  in  ardent  spirits  before  the  sweep  of  a 
mighty  conviction,  and  many  more  thousands,  by 
their  practice  of  abstinence,  putting  to  shame  the 
ai’gument  that  strong  drink  makes  men  strong, 
and  is  essential  to  health — the  temperance  move- 
ment was  bound  to  grow,  and  presently  to  become 


Pkogression  ; Abstinence. 


sr;  A: 


65 


across  the  water,  had  caught  the  inspiration.  In 
Ireland,  Rev.  John  Edgar,  a Presbyterian  min- 
ister and  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Belfast  Col- 
lege, became  the  leader  of  the  movement.  Having 
been  in  communication  with  the  friends  of  tem- 
perance in  America,  he  published  an  article  in 
the  Belfast  News-Letter,  August  14,  1829,  point- 
ing out  the  need  for  temperance  work  in  Ireland. 
This  is  the  first  appeal  made  on  this  subject  to 
the  Christian  conscience  of  Europe.  Soon  after 
this  appeal,  the  first  temperance  society  in  Ireland 
was  started  at  Hewross  by  Rev.  George  W.  Carr. 
The  movement  then  began  to  spread.  Almost  si- 
multaneously, in  Scotland,  Mr.  John  Dunlop,  a 
Greenock  squire,  who  had  studied  the  American 
temperance  societies,  and  had  become  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  evils  that  fiowed  from  the  Scotch- 
man’s love  of  whisky,  formed  a society  at  Green- 
ock, in  October,  1829.  Dunlop  lectured  in  Edin- 
burgh and  other  cities,  and  everywhere  temper- 
ance societies  sprang  up.  From  here  the  move- 
ment spread  to  England.  Mr.  Henry  Eorbes,  a 
merchant  from  Bradford,  in  Yorkshire,  on  a busi- 


5 


66 


A Centuky  of  Dein^k  Refoem. 


ness  trip  to  Glasgow  attended  the  public  meetings 
of  the  temperance  societies  there.  He  became 
convinced  of  the  necessity  and  worth  of  temper- 
ance reform  and  after  his  return  he,  organized,  on 
February  2,  1830,  the  Bradford  Temperance  So- 
ciety, the  first  in  England.  Societies  were  formed 
during  the  same  year  in  Manchester,  Liverpool, 
Leeds,  and  other  of  the  larger  cities  of  England, 
the  reform  entering  London  the  following  year, 
in  the  formation  of  the  London  Temperance  Soci- 
ety in  June,  IfiSl. 

In  Sweden,  also,  it  was  heard  that  temperance 
societies  had  been  established  in  America,  and 
were  working  such  good  results.  The  Royal  Swed- 
ish Patriotic  Society  at  Stockholm  became  inter- 
ested, and  instructed  their  secretary,  in  May, 
1830,  to  open  communication  with  a view  to  ascer- 
taining the  plan  of  organization  and  work  of  these 
societies.  Early  in  1831  the  first  temperance  soci- 
ety was  formed,  in  Stockholm. 

In  the  United  States  the  years  frosn  1831  to 
1836  were  most  fruitful  in  the  re^nn.  The 
movement  was  getting  under  way  and  gathering 
momentum.  First  among  the  many  agencies  that 


Pkogression  : Abstinence. 


67 


x/ 


gave  it  impulse  was  the  Eev.  Justin  Edwards, 
who,  as  corresponding  secretary  of  Ahe  American 
Temperance  Society  during  these/years,  became 
the  chief  promoter  of  organize^  temperance  in 
America.  As  a discerning  thinker,  efficient  organ- 
izer, and  wise  leader,  Dr.  Edwards  was  the  ablest 
man  at  this  early  stage  of  the  reform.  Afore  than 
any  other  he  had  been  instrumental  i^^e  forma- 
tion of  the  American  Temperance  SoejfCTy,  in  col- 
lecting funds  for  the  employment  of  a general 
agent,  and  in  promoting  in  other  ways,  in  the  be- 
ginning, the  cause  of  that  organization.  Upon 
the  resignation  of  Eev.  Nathaniel  Hewit,  at  the 
close  of  1830,  as  general  agent  of  the  Society,  Dr. 
Edwards  assumed  the  chief  labors  of  that  office, 
visiting  many  States,  including  the  Province  of 
New  Brunswick  in  Canada,  and  everywhere  or- 
ganizing temperance  societies. 

The  publications  during  these  years  were  nu- 
merous. It  was  the  golden  age  of  temperance  lit- 
erature. The  public  lyceums,  for  discussions,  de- 
bates, and  lectures,  which  originated  in  Alassa- 
chifsetts  in  1826-28,  and  spread  presently  through 
the  land,  were  giving  publicity  and  aid  to  the  re- 


68 


A Centuiiy  of  Defn’k  Refoem. 


form.  Temperance  newspapers  were  growing  in 
numbers  and  influence.  In  tbe  form  of  tract  or 
pamphlet,  the  press  was  sending  forth  by  the  mil- 
lion copies  such  writings  as  these:  Poems  and 
Tales  by  Mrs.  Sigourney;  Addresses  by  Rev.  Aus- 
tin Dickinson ; “Who  Slew  All  These  ?”  by  Mrs. 
Halsey,  circulated  by  the  hundred  thousands ; the 
Ox  Sermon — from  Exodus  xxi,  28,  29 — by  Rev. 
Eli  Merrill,  of  which  two  million  copies  circu- 
lated in  1833 ; Address  by  President  Heman 
Humphrey,  on  “The  Dialogue  between  the  Rum- 
seller  and  His  Conscience;”  “The  Burning  of  the 
Ephesian  Books,”  by  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  the 
fearless,  resolute  Boston  Unitarian  minister  and 
poet,  so  valiant  in  the  reform;  Sermons  by  Rev. 
E.  H.  Kirk,  of  Albany,  later  of  Boston,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  preachers  of  his  day ; “The  Immor- 
ality of  the  Traffic  in  Ardent  Spirits,”  by  Rev. 
Albert  Barnes,  of  Philadelphia ; Essays  by  Hon. 
Mark  Doolittle,  of  Kew  Hampshire,  and  by  Dr. 
Harvey  Bindley,  of  Washington;  and  lastly,  and 
perhaps  most  effective  of  all,  the  Temperance 
Tales  by  Sargent.  Lucius  M.  Sargent  was  a col- 
lege graduate,  trained  for  the  law,  but  having 


Progression  : Abstinence. 


69 


money  resources  and  literary  tastes  lie  devoted 
himself  to  the  temperance  refonu.  His  Tales,  be- 
ginning in  1833  with  “My  Mother’s  Gold  Ring,” 
came  forth  in  numbered  succession,  a score  of 
them  in  the  space  of  a few  years.  Dr.  Charles 
Jewett,  who  entered  the  reform  at  the  close  of  the 
’30’s,  wrote  afterwards  that  if  all  opposition  to 
the  liquor  system  could  by  one  blow  be  annihi- 
lated, and  with  it  all  temperance  men  and  women 
then  living,  together  with  every  'publication  or 
instrumentality  that  had  ever  assailed  the  system, 
saving  only  from  the  wreck  Lyman  Beecher’s  Six 
Sermons,  Sargent’s  Tales,  and  “The  Rum  Fiend,” 
a poem  by  William  H.  Burleigh,  a few  years 
later, — these  alone  ought,  among  any  civilized 
people  who  can  read,  to  originate  another  temper- 
ance reform,  and  carry  it  to  a consummation. 

Of  all  the  publications  the  greatest  excitement 
was  aroused  by  “Deacon  Amos  Giles’s  Distillei’y: 
A Dream,”  by  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  of  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  a college  classmate  of  Hawthorne 
and  of  Longfellow.  This  publicity  was  due  partly 
to  the  document  itself,  but  more  largely  probably 
to  the  fact  that  its  author,  because  of  it,  became 


70 


A CeNTUKY  OE  DEI^fK  Refoem. 


a kind  of  martyr  to  the  cause.  In  this  town, 
where  Cheever  had  settled,  there  were  four  dis- 
tilleries whose  lurid  flames  burned  day  and  night, 
week-day  and  Sabbath,  pouring  forth  desolation 
upon  the  community.  Within  a few  minutes  wallc 
from  the  minister’s  study  was  a workhouse,  of 
whose  three  thousand  inmates  the  vast  proportion 
were  there,  directly  or  indirectly,  owing  to  intem- 
perance. Over  these  evils  and  Sabbath  desecra- 
tions this  young  minister  could  not  sleep.  "WTien 
he  lay  down  it  was  only  to  dream,  which. in  this 
instance  proved  to  be  not  all  a dream.  His  mind 
having  in  its  waking  hours  stored  up  the  visual 
impression,  “Inquire  at  So-and-So’s,”  seen  in  fa- 
miliar advertisements,  mingled  this  in  strange  in- 
congruity in  his  dream.  Imps  had  entered  by 
night,  so  he  dreamed,  into  the  distillery  of  one 
Amos  Giles,  a deacon,  who  also  kept  Bibles  for 
sale  in  one  comer  of  his  establishment,  and  in  their 
fiendish  revelry  had  painted  signs  on  the  casks, 
reading  on  this  wise : “Who  hath  woe  ? Inquire 
at  Deacon  Giles’s  Distillery.  Delirium  Tremens  ? 
Inquire  at  Deacon  Giles’s  Distillery.  Insanity 
and  Murder  ? Inquire  at  Deacon  Giles’s  Distil- 


Peogeession  : Abstinence. 


71 


lery,”  etc.  These  letters  were  invisible  to  the 
distiller,  but  flamed  out  in  letters  of  red  as  the 
retailer  was  about  to  deal  out  the  contents.  This 
Dream  was  first  published  in  the  Salem  Land- 
mark, in  February,  1835.  Cheever  was  arrested 
for  libel  by  one  of  the  distillers  of  the  town,  whom 
the  coat  seemed  to  fit  best,  and  although  Cheever 
was  defended  by  Rufus  Choate,  he  was  punished 
with  a fine  and  with  imprisonment  at  thirty  days. 
This  gave  the  widest  publicity  to  the  article,  and 
was  the  means,  by  the  sentiment  it  created,  of 
closing  the  distillery.  The  gods  were  seemingly 
on  the  side  of  the  reform,  for  they  first  made  the 
distiller  mad. 

So  much  for  the  literature  of  these  years,  from 
1831-1836,  the  second  five  years  since  the  forma- 
tion of  the  American  Temperance  Society.  We 
will  now  note  briefly  the  events  of  progress  during 
these  same  years.  In  the  fifth  Annual  Report  of 
the  American  Temperance  Society,  in  1832,  the 
following  figures  are  given,  according  to  the  best 
information  then  obtainable:  More  than  1,500,000 
people  in  the  United  States  abstain  from  ardent 
spirits,  and  from  furnishing  it;  more  than  4,000 


72 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

temperance  societies  are  in  existence,  with  more 
than  500,000  members;  more  than  1,500  distil- 
i leries  have  stopped,  and  more  than  4,000  grocers 
have  ceased  selling;  4,500  drunkards  have  ceased 
I using  spirits,  and  many  thousands  have  united 
j with  Churches  as  the  result  of  giving  up  drinking. 
Every  State  has  a State  temperance  society,  ex- 
cept three.  Temperance  societies  have  been  intro- 
duced into  various  parts  of  Africa,  and  into  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  ^ 

In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  November  5, 
1832,  an  order  was  issued  by  General  Lewis  Cass, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  banishing  the  spirit  ration 
from  the  army,  and  prohibiting  the  introduction 
of  spirituous  liquors  into  any  camp,  fort,  or  garri- 
son of  the  United  States."^  The  Secretary  of  the  f 
Navy  bore  testimony  to  ttie  evils  of  strong  drink 
in  the  service,  and  offered  a money  substitute  for 
the  grog  ration  to  all  who  would  accept  it.  The 
^cholera  plague,  which  came  like  a scourge  upon 
the  Nation  in  1832,  was  made  to  praise  the  tem- 
perance reform,  for  it  visibly  picked  its  victims, 
as  was  pointed  out,  from  the  ranks  of  the  drinker. 
Those  who  fled  to  the  bottle  were  the  flrst  to  suc- 
cumb. 


73 


Peogeession  : Abstinence. 


On  February  26,  1833,  on  previous  recommen- 
dation by  the  American  Temperance  Society,  si- 
multaneous temperance  mass-meetings  were  held 
throughout  the  land  and  in  Europe,  to  make  a 
powerful  impression  upon  the  public  in  the  fur- 
therance of  the  cause  of  temperance.  On  that  day, 
at  a meeting  of  the  members  of  Congress,  the 
American  Congressional  Temperance  Society  was 
formed,  on  the  basis  of  total  abstinence  from  spir- 
its, and  from  the  traffic  therein.  Hon.  Lewis  Cass, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  was  made  president  of  the 
society.  Many  distinguished  members  of  both 
houses  of  Congress  and  other  Oovernment  officials 
became  members  of  the  society.  Earlier  in  the 
same  month  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  the  correspond- 
I kig  secretary  of  the  American  Temperance  Soci- 
iety,  had  addressed  the  members  of  Congress,  upon 
their  invitation,  on  the  subject  of  temperance ; 
which  was  followed,  during  the  same  week,  by  a 
rousing  mass-meeting  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  The  fervid  speeches  made  on 
this  occasion  we^Vprinted  and  scattered  abroad, 
and  gave  impetus  to  the  reform.  Following  the 
example  of  Congress,  in  a number  of  States  legis- 
lative temperance  societies  were  formed. 


N 

< 


5^ 


74 


A Centuey  of  DEmK  Refoem. 


^ During  this  same  year — 1833 — the  first  Na- 
tional Temperance  Cr  ention,  pursuant  to  a call 


I by  the  American  T^perance  Society,  met  in 
Philadelphia  the  last  week  in  May.  The  object 
I of  this  gathering  was  to  consider  the  means  of  ex- 
I tending.,  hv  the  general  diffusion  of  infonnation 
^ and  the  exertion  of  moral  influence,  the  principle 
/ of  abstinence  from  ardent  spirits  throughout  the 
^ country,  ^^wenty-one  Stat^  were  represented, 
with  over  four  hundred  delegates,  including  also 
a delegate  from  the  London  Temperance  Society, 
or  the  British  and  Foreign  Temperance  Society, 
as  it  was  renamed  soon  after  its  organization. 
Hon.  Reuben  Walworth,  Chancellor  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  presided  over  this  convention.  Dis- 
tinguished men  sat  in  the  convention,  and  the  in- 
fluence that  went  out  was  powerful  for  good.  The 
convention  commended  especially  the  banishing  of 
spirits  from  the  army,  the  formation  of  a temper- 
ance society  in  Congress,  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  temperance  groceries,  public-houses,  and 
steamboats;  and  the  influence  of  woman  in  the 
reform.  (“In  the  temperance  and  anti-slavery 
agitations  woman  first  emerged  from  the  privacy 


Pkogeession  : Abstinence. 


75 


of  liome  life  to  sign  public  petitions  and  mount 
the  platform.” — Schouler.)  The  convention  rec- 
ommended: a temperance  society  in  every  town 

(and  city  ward  in  the  United  States ; a temperance 
publication  in  every  family  in  the  land;  that  ed- 
; itors  publish  information  on  the  subject  of  tem- 
perance, and  thus  prove  themselves  benefactors  of 
mankind;  that  statistics  be  gathered  in  every  lo- 
cality of  the  progress  of  temperance,  and  of  the 
relation  between  pauperism,  and  crime,  and  strong 
drink;  that  on  the  last  Tuesday  in  Uebruary, 
3834,  simultaneous  temperance  meetings  be  held 
throughout  the  world.  It  was  also  voted  to  form 
a more  organic  and  representative  national  tem- 
perance organization,  to  be  composed  of  the  offi- 
cers of  the  American  Temperance  Society  and  of 
the  several  State  societies,  to  take  the  place  of  the 
American  Temperance  Society.  This  was  not  car- 
ried into  effect,  however,  until  three  years  later. 
Through  the  liberality  of  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer, 
of  Albany,  100,000  copies  were  distributed  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  convention. 


76 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 


Second  Period:  18S6-1851.  Teetotalism. 

^ The  second  ISTational  Temperance  Convention 
met  in  Saratoga,  August  4,  1836,  with  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-four  delegates  in  attendance.  The 
scope  of  the  temperance  reform  was  now  to  be 
enlarged  and  the  hounds  set  out,  where,  on  the 
purely  moral  side,  they  have  ever  since  remained. 

Since  the  last  ISTational  Convention  a branch 
agency  of  the  American  Temperance  Society  had 
been  established  at  Philadelphia,  with  Rev.  John 
Marsh,  former  agent  of  the  Connecticut  State  So- 
ciety, as  its  incumbent.  By  vote  of  Congress,  and 
approval  of  President  Jackson,  the  sale  of  spirits 
to  the  Indians  had  been  prohibited  in  1834.  The 
first  temperance  almanac  had  been  issued  in  Al- 
bany. The  report  of  Samuel  Chipman  had  been 
given  to  the  public,  containing  the  results  of  his 
investigations,  on  an  exhaustive  scale,  in  the  jails 
and  poorhouses  in  the  State  of  Hew  Tork  upon 
the  relation  between  intemperance,  pauperisrn, 
and  crime.  The  marine  insurance  companies  in 
ISTew  York  City  had  voted  to  deduct  five  per  cent 
from  premiums  on  ships  sailing  without  spirits 
(of  which  there  were  already  many  hundreds), 


Pkogeession  : Abstinence. 


77 


which  was  followed,  a few  years  later,  by  a similar 
offer  from  the  Cincinnati  companies,  of  a reduc- 
tion of  ten  per  cent  on  temperance  steamboats. 

It  was  now  ten  years  since  the  American  Tem- 
perance Society  hac^egun  its  work,  and  ushered 
in  the  era  of  entire  abstinence  as  the  effectual 
remedy  for  intemperance.  That  principle  had 
now  had  a fair  trial,  and  the  verdict  was  that  it 
I had  worked  well — as  far  as  it  had  been  tried.  The 
principle  was  sou:M,  but  its  application  had  not 
covered  every  con'bWgency.  Entire  abstinence 
meant  the  renouncing  of  ardeut  spirits — the  dis- 
tilled or  spirituous  liquors,  like  wliisky  and  rum; 
nothing  more.  Ardent  spirits  alone  had  been 
aimed  at  by  the  temperance  movement — first  their 
regulation,  or  moderate  use;  then  their  renunci- 
ation, until  now.  Latterly,  however  it  was  found 
that  many  who  had  stood  on  their  feet,  members 
of  temperance  societies,  had  again  fallen,  not  on 
rum,  but  on  wine,  cider,  and  beer.  Erom  the  days 
of  Dr.  Hush  it  had  been  generally  considered  that 
fermented  liquors,  in  ordinary  quantities,  did  not 
contain  sufficient  spirit  to  produce  intoxication^ 
Dr.  Rush  did  not  in  fact  recommend  these  drinks 


78 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


as  a substitute  for  spirits,  but  recommended,  in- 
stead, simply  water.  Persons  wbo  were  ^‘unable 
to  relish  this  simple  beverage  of  nature,”  he  al- 
lowed, might,  “in  preference  to  ardent  spirits,” 
drink  cider,  wines,  malt  liquors,  molasses  and 
water,  or  vinegar  and  water,  the  juice  of  the  sugar 
maple,  and  coffee. 

It  was  not  unknown,  indeed,  for  men  to  ab- 
stain from  wine,  and  from  malt  liquors  even,  com- 
paratively early  in  the  reform.  But  this  was  not 
emphasized  or  widely  recognized,  and  was  not  em- 
bodied in  the  organized  movement.  The  subject 
now  compelled_a,ttention^and  upon  closer  exami- 
nation it  was  found  that,  not  in  distillation,  but 
in  the  process  of  fermentation  itself,  the  intoxicat- 
ing principle  in  liquor  was  produced.  A story  is 
told  of  a Hew  England  innkeeper,  who,  having 
previously  been  addicted  to  ardent  spirits,  was 
induced  to  join  a temperance  society.  He  was 
constantly  in  the  habit  of  recounting  the  blessings 
of  the  temperance  reform  upon  himself,  yet  he  was 
notoriously  oftener  drunk  than  before,  being 
scarcely  ever  sober  enough  to  see  his  own  incon- 
y sistency.  One  morning  when,  as  usual,  he  was 


PEOGKESSIOlir : Abstistence. 


79 


mucli  tlie  worse  for  hard  cider,  a Quaker  stopped 
with  a wagon  at  his  door.  Trying  in  vain  to  ad- 
just some  part  of  the  Quaker’s  harness,  he  at 
length  apologized  that  his  eyes  were  very  sore. 
He  did  n’t  know  what  was  the  matter  with  them, 
jie  said, 

^‘Do  you  suppose,”  he  asked,  ‘'that  these  gog- 
gles are  any  help  to  my  eyes  ?”  revealing,  as  he  re- 
moved them,  an  extraordinary  pair  of  fiery  balls 
surrounded  by  ulcerated,  hairless  lids, 

“Hay,  friend,”  replied  the  Quaker, 

“Do  tell  me,”  rejoined  the  innkeeper,  “don’t 
you  know  something  or  other  that  will  help  my 


eyes 


2” 


“Yea,  verily,”  replied  the  Quaker,  as  he 
jogged  his  horse  forward,  “thee  mayest  wash  thy 
eyes  with  the  cider,  and  put  the  goggles  over  thy 
mouth,” 

But  there  was  another  practical  difficulty. 
Hot  merely  did  men  who  abstained  from  spirits 
lapse  on  cider,  wine,  and  beer;  but  it  was  often 
hard  to  get  men  to  take  even  the  ardent  spirit 
pledge  while  these  other  liquors  were  not  given 
up,  “If  I could  afford  to  use  wine  as  you  do,” 


80 


A Centuey  of  Deijs^k  Eefoem. 


some  poor  rum  drinker  was  apt  to  reply,  “I  would 
be  willing  to  give  up  my  grog,”  (A  poor  man 
could  buy  far  more  stimulation  in  rum  in  those 
days,  before  tbe  taxing,  than  he  could  in  wine.) 
^‘You  want  to  take  away  our  drink,  but  you  keep 
yours.”  So  it  was  coming  to  pass  that  all  in- 
toxicating drinks  would  have  to  stand  or  fall  to- 
gether. 

The  principle  of  abstinence,  having  once  been 
established,  it  was  less  hard  to  extend  it  to  all 
liquors  that  produced  intoxication.  The  new  plan 
had  already  been  introduced  in  the  societies  at 
Hector  and  the  neighboring  towns  in  Hew  York, 
between  1826  and  1830,  chiefly  through  the  influ- 
ence of  Rev.  Joel  Jewell.  As  secretary  of  the 
Hector  society,  in  1827,  Mr.  Jewell  is  believed  to 
be  the  first  to  have  brought  into  use  the  word  tee- 
totalism.  There  were  two  classes  of  members  in 
the  society:  those  who  abstained  from  ardent  spir- 
its only,  before  whose  names  on  the  roll  the  letters 
0.  P. — old  pledge — were  placed;  and  those  who 
took  the  more  comprehensive  pledge,  including, 
^n  addition,  wine,  before  whose  name  the  letter  T 
was  placed,  meaning  total.  By  explaining  this 


Pkogeessioit  : Abstinence. 


81 


designation  on  the  roll,  that  T stood  for  total,  such 
persons  were  directly  called  T-T otalers. 

The  pioneer  in  tojal  ahstinenee  across  the 
water  was  the  society  at  Preston,  in  Lancashire, 
England.  Joseph  Livesey,  a Preston  provision 
dealer,  of  large  good  sense  and  self-education,  who 
as  a poor  orphan  boy  had  worked  in  the  cotton 
mills  of  that  town,  seeing  that  the  pledge  against 
ardent  spirits  alone  was  insufficient,  drew  up  a 
pledge  of  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating 
liquors  on  August  23,  1832,  signed  it,  called  in  a 
neighbor,  John  King,  who  was  passing,  to  sign 
with  him;  then  secured  five  other  names.  These 
were  the  “seven  men  of  Preston,”  who  became  the 
founders  of  the  total  abstinence  movement  in  Eng- 
land. But  Livesey  was  the  father  of  the  cause, 
and  became  its  chief  promoter.  This  was  called 
the  “tee-total  pledge,”  a designation  not  imported 
from  America,  we  are  told,  but  from  the  speech  of 
a laboring  man,  “Dickey”  Turner,  who  at  a meet- 
ing of  the  Preston  Society,  in  September,  1833, 
in  referring  to  the  current  half-way  pledge  (from 
spirits  only),  said  he  wanted  nothing  of  that,  but 
that  he ’d  be  out-and-out,  “right  down  t-total  for- 
6 


82  A Centuky  of  Deink  Reform. 

ever,”  repeating  tlie  first  letter  for  emphasis. 
Those  present  at  once  said  that  that  was  the  word ; 
the  pledge  should  be  called  teetotal. 

But  however  the  name  may  have  passed  into 
currency,  teetotalism  was  becoming  a fact.  The 
Mississippi  State  Temperance  Convention,  on 
Christmas,  1833,  recommended  that  all  new  soci- 
eties abstain  from  vdne  as  well  as  from  spirits. 
The  Kentucky  Legislative  Temperance  Society, 
organized  early  in  1831,  with  the  governor  as  its 
president,  voted  to  abstain  from  both  spirits  and 
wine.  In  1835  the  Kew  York  State  Temperance 
Society — the  most  efficient  perhaps  of  all  the  State 
societies — ^began  to  advocate  through  its  official 
paper.  The  Temperance  Recorder,  total  abstinence 
from  all  intoxicating  liquors.  This  position  was 
also  taken,  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  by  the 
Massachusetts  State  Society  at  its  convention  in 
Boston.  After  some  correspondence  with  the  lead- 
ing men  in  the  reform.  Dr.  Justin  Edwards,  the 
corresponding  secretary  of  the  American  Temper- 
ance Society,  who  had  already  pointed  out  the  ne- 
cessity for  this  advance  step,  sent  out  a call  for  a 
second  national  temperance  convention,  as  has 


Progression  : Abstinence. 


83 


been  mentioned,  to  meet  in  Saratoga,  l^ew  York, 
in  August,  1836. 

V At  this  convention  tlie  principle  of  abstinence 
was  extended  to  all  intoxicating  liquors.  The  new 
pledge  was  generally  adopted  by  State  and  local 
societies,  though  there  were  not  wanting  those  who 
refused  to  go  to  that  extent.  The  new  temper- 
ance organiza^tion,  contemplated  at  the  National 
Convention  tllree  years  before,  in  Philadelphia, 
was  now  put  into  operation  under  the  name  of  the 

Ampripan lempexanee — dfrtion.  General  John 

Hartwell  Cocke,  of  Virginia,  an  early  stanch 
friend  of  the  cause,  whom  the  management  of  a 
large  estate  and  the  command  of  troops  had  con- 
vinced of  the  value  of  temperance,  became  its  first 
president.  How  that  the  American  Temperance 
Society  was  merged  into  the  new  organization. 
Rev.  Justin  Edwards  resigned  as  corresponding 
secretary.  The  five  annual  reports,  beginning 
with  1831,  which  he  had  prepared,  dealt  not 
merely  with  the  eveuts  of  the  temperance  move- 
ment, but  were  packed  with  cogent  discussions  of 
the  underlying  principles  of  the  reform.  Each 
annual  report  was  widely  circulated  and  eagerly 


84 


A Centtjky  of  Deink;  Refoem. 


read,  beyond  the  seas  even,  and  everywhere  com- 
pelled attention.  Among  the  abundant  and  ef- 
fective literature  of  this  period  these  reports  must 
be  given  a foremost  place.  They  were  now  repub- 
lished in  a single  volume,  under  the  title,  “Perma- 
nent Documents  of  the  American  Temperance 
Society;”  and  the  active  work  of  Justin  Edwards 
was  done.  Rev.  John  Marsh,  a tried  and  efficient 
^ worker  in  the  cause,  was  made  correspond  in  g sec- 
\ retary  of  the  American  Temperance  Union,  a po- 
sition he  held  for  twenty-nine  years,  during  the 
entire  life  of  that  body;  until,  under  changed  con- 
ditions, it  was  reorganized  upon  a new  basis,  and 
with  a new  name. 

During  this  fruitful  third  decade  the  Amer- 
ican temperance  movement  had  not  only  intro- 


duced the  reform  abroa^aK  we  have'  seen,  through 
its  literature,  but  it  materially  furthered  the  cause 
^through  its  personal  representatives  there.  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Hewit,  upon  resigning  the  general 


agency  of  the  American  Temperance  Society  at 
the  close  of  1830,  was  the  first  to  go  abroad  in  the 
interests  of  the  movement.  He  visited  Great 
Britain  and  France.  The  most  important  service. 


PEOGEESsioisr : Abstinence. 


85 


perhaps,  was  rendered  by  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  a 
TOor  Pennsylvania  boy,  who  by/dint  of  ambition 
\/and  bard  work  graduated  from  Jefferson  College 
and  from  Princeton  Seminaryi  and  was  now  the 
^ent  in  an  American  moven^t  for  the  evangel- 
zation  of  Southern  Europe,  particularly  France, 
•connpc^ion  with  this  mission,  during  the  latter 
half  of  tne  thirties,  he  made  several  tours  through 
J^orthern^urope  in  thu^jp^ests  of  tei^erance. 
He  we^rT5e^)re  crowned  heads,  presenting  them 
with  copies'  of  his  “History  of  the  Temperance 
Societies  in  the  United  States,”  and  reporting  per- 
sonally of  the  good  workings  of  these  societies. 
King  Frederick  William  III  of  Prussia,  who  a 
few  years  before  had  commissioned  his  minister 
at  Washington  to  make  him  an  accurate  report 
of  the  temperance  societies  in  America,  gave  Baird 
a warm  welcome ; ordered  his  history  to  be  trans- 
lated into  German,  and  a copy  sent  to  all  the 
clergy,  with  the  injunction  to  the  minister  of 
I police  to  encourage  in  every  locality  the  formation 
of  temperance  societies  against  spirits.  Another 
■ representative  abroad  was  Edward  C.  Delavan, 
who  went  in  1838,  taking  with  him  a large  supply 


86 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


of  temperance  literature.  Delavan  was  an  early 
retired  merchant  of  Albany,  of  wealth  and  culture, 
who  since  the  close  of  the  twenties  had  given  his 
gratuitous  service  to  the  temperance  cause,  and 
had  become  the  master  spirit  of  the  movement  in 
Rew  York  State.  Through  his  liberality  and  en- 
terprise millions  of  temperance  publications  were 
circulated.  He  defrayed  the  expense  of  Rev.  Xa- 
thaniel  Hewit’s  European  tour  in  1831,  already 
mentioned;  took  a prominent  part  in  the  agitation 
against  fermented  liquors,  and  at  the  organization 
of  the  American  Temperance  Union  in  1836  he 
was  made  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
donating  ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  Union  for  its 
work. 

With  the  going  out  of  the  thirties  the  interest 
in  the  reform  had  apparently  suffered  a decline. 
This  was  due  partly  to  the  more  comprehensive 
' and  drastic  form  of  the  pledge,  resulting  in  an  un- 
fruitful controversy,  within  the  Church,  over  the 
question  of  Bible  wines,  due  partly  to  the  resort 
to  legislative  expedients,  hut  due  most  largely, 
iprobably,  to  the  fact  that  no  sweep  of  moral  en- 
thusiasm can  continue  unabated  for  many  years 


Pbogeession  : Abstinence. 


87 


at  a time.  This  brief  abatement  was  followed, 
however,  by  a renewed  wave  of  interest  and  en- 
thusisasm  that  was  to  rise  to  a height  such  as  had 
never  yet  been  reached.  It  was  the  W ashinsrtoni  an 
movement. 


For  the  first  time  now  was  the  temperance 
reformation  to  assume  the  title  role  of  actual  re- 
demption. Its  aim  and  work  hitherto  had  been 
prevention,  and  its^  sphere  ‘ the  moderate  drinker. 
Let  him  entirely  renounce  the  use  of  strong  drink, 
it  was  argued,  and  the  prolific  spring  of  drunken- 
jness  will  be  dried  up;  and  when  the  present  gener- 
ation of  drunkards,  for  whom  there  can  be  but 
little  hope,  has  gone  to  the  inevitable  grave,  the 
nation  will  be  sober.  In  consequence  the  temper- 
ance movement  was  confined  almost  entirely 
within  the  limits  of  Church  and  of  respectability. 

. The  new  manifestation  was  to  break  forth  outside 
these  bounds,  and  addressing  itself  to  the  outcast 
victims  of  drink,  was  destined  to  accomplish, 
under  the  impulse  of  an  almost  irresistible  moral 
enthusiasm  and  by  the  power  of  moral  appeal, 
what  had  hitherto  been  considered  impossible  even 
to  religion — the  reclamation  of  the  drunkard. 


CC> 


88 


A Centuey  of  Dkink  Refoem. 


It  began  in  Baltimore,  in  1840.  On  a certain 
evening  the  firstf  week  in’^pril^ ' a small  company 
of  men — congenial  spirits — ^had  gathered,  as  was 
their  custom,  at  Chase’s  Tavern  on  Liberty  Street, 
to  spend  the  evening  over  their  cups.  Rev.  Mat- 
thew Hale  Smith,  the  temperance  lecturer,  was 
to  speak  in  the  city  that  night.  It  was  agreed  that 
several  of  the  company  should  go  to  hear  the  lec- 
ture, and  report.  When  they  came  hack  one  re- 
marked that  he  believed  temperance  was  all  right. 
The  tavern-keeper,  who  was  standing  by,  said  those 
temperance  people  were  all  hypocrites.  “It ’s  all 
well  enough  for  you  to  say  that,”  the  other  replied; 
“it ’s  to  your  interest  to  cry  them  down.”  The 
matter  was  talked  over.  Some  one  suggested  that 
Mitchell  (a  tailor)  draw  up  a pledge.  After  an- 
other meeting  or  two  a pledge  was  drawn  up,  cov- 
ering all  intoxicating  liquors,  and  was  signed  by 
six  men.  They  called  themselves.  The  Washington- 
ian Temperance  Society,  in  honor  of  the  father  of 
his  coimtry.  Their  first  meetings  were  held  nightly, 
in  a carpenter  shop;  then  weekly.  At  once  they 
commenced  to  gather  in  recruits.  It  was  a rule 
for  every  member  to  bring  a man  with  him.  By 


Pkogeession  : Abstinence. 


89 


fall  their  society  had  several  hundred  members, 
reformed  drinkers.  The  most  valuable  accession, 
who  joined  the  society  in  June,  was  John  Henry 
W.  Hawkins,  destined  to  become  the  leader  of  the 
movement,  “the  major-general  of  the  total  absti- 
nence army,”  as  his  comrades  called  him. 

Hawkins  was  born  of  Christian  parents,  and 
at  fourteen  had  professed  religion.  But  being 
apprenticed  to  a hatter  he  drank  with  the  other 
boys ; formed  a taste  for  liquor,  and  became  a con- 
firmed drunkard.  When,  after  he  had  married, 
he  was  carried  home  drunk,  and  his  family  would 
care  for  him  so  tenderly,  it  pierced  his  heart  with 
compunction.  After  several  trials  he  resolved 
once  more,  on  June  12th,  that  with  the  help  of 
God  he  would  never  again  taste  nor  expose  him- 
self to  the  temptation  of  strong  drink.  Three  days 
later  he  signed  the  pledge,  and  kept  it.  Early  in 
1841,  Hawkins,  with  four  others,  went  to  Hew 
York  City  to -tell  the  story  of  their  reformation. 
Daily  meetings  were  held  in  the  largest  Churches, 
and  finally  in  the  park.  From  here  they  went  to 
Boston,  where  Eaneuil  Hall  would  not  hold  the 
crowds.  In  groups  these  men  went  from  city  to 


90 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


city,  and  State  to  State,  as  far  west  as  St.  Louis, 
securing  signatures  to  the  pledge  by  the  thousands, 
and  starting  Washington  Societies.  A newspaper 
was  established  as  the  special  organ  of  the  move- 
ment, and  Martha  Wa^ington  Societies,  among 
women,  sprang  into  |^^tence.  Rot  the  drunkard 
only,  but  all  classes  gave  their  names  to  the  pledge, 
to  countenance  the  work.  By  1843,  however,  in- 
terest began  to  wane,  and  soon  Washingtonianism 
had  spent  its  force.  Hawkins,  though,  continued 
his  labors  unremittingly  in  the  cause  of  temper- 
ance until  his  death,  in  1858,  visiting  every  State 
in  the  Union  save  only  California. 

In  the  light  of  subsequent  history  it  is  of  in- 
terest to  note  what  was  the  attitude  toward  this 
refonn,  of  that  most  typical  and  best  loved  Amer- 
ican, Abraham  Lincoln.  By  invitation  from  the 
Washington  Society  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  Lin- 
coln delivered  a Washington  Birthday  address  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  that  city,  on  Pebruary 
22,  1842,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said : “Whether 
or  not  the  world  would  be  vastly  benefited  by  a 
total  and  final  banishment  from  it  of  all  intoxicat- 
ing drinks,  seems  to  me  not  now  an  open  question. 


Pkogkessiojst  : Abstinence. 


91 


, Three-fourths  of  mankind  confess  the  affirmative 
I with  their  tongues ; and,  I believe,  all  the  rest 
I acknowledge  it  in  their  hearts.  ...  If  the 
f relative  grandeur  of  revolutions  shall  be  estimated 
I by  the  great  amount  of  human  misery  they  allevi- 
5 ate  and  the  small  amount  they  inflict,  then,  indeed, 
; will  this  be  the  grandest  the  world  shall  ever  have 
seen.  . . . And  when  the  victory  shall  be 

^ complete,  when  there  shall  be  neither  a slave  nor 
? a drunkard  on  earth,  how  proud  the  title  of  that 
land  which  may  truly  claim  to  be  the  birthplace 
and  the  cradle  of  both  those  revolutions  that  shall 
have  ended  in  that  victory!”  Lincoln  entered 
zealously  into  the  temperance  reform,  having  made 
speeches  and  written  on  the  subject  when  yet  a 
young  man.  By  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  the 
principle  of  total  abstinence  through  the  years  of 
his  later  public  life,  he  became  a pillar  of  strength 
to  the  temperance  cause — a service  less  widely  un- 
derstood to-day  or  appreciated,  because  of  his 
larger  labors  in  l^egro  emancipation.  In  1862  he 
signed  the  bill  banishing  grog  from  the  navy,  as 
thirty  years  before  it  had  been  banished  from  the 
army.  The  influence  of  Lincoln’s  mother,  who 


92 


A Centuey  of  Deustk;  Eefoem. 


died  when  he  was  but  nine,  was  never  effaced. 
Three  things  she  had  impressed  upon  him:  never 
to  tell  a falsehood;  nor  use  profanity;  nor  taste 
liquor. 

In  the  wake  of  the  Washingtonian  crusade  fol- 
lowed a new  manifestation — the  s,g£ret^^^:^ternal 
temperance  orders.  They  sprang  up  in  response 
to  new  neaflsT  The  drunkards,  who  by  the  thou- 
sands had  (been  swept  out  upon  dry  land  by  this 
wave  of  u^aralleled  moral  fury,  needed  care. 
They  must  beVathered  up,  and  by  sympathy  and 
encouragement  nurtured  to  health  and  strength. 
Outcasts  frorn  society,  they  needed  the  sense  of 
brotherhood  and  to  be  restored  to  respectability. 
With  no  mon^,  they  needed  financial  aid  in  case 
of  sickness  or\death.  And  none  of  the  existing 
beneficiary  fraternal  orders  rested  on  total  absti- 
nence. 

The  first  such  secret  temperance  organization 
in  America  was  the  Independent  Order  of  Eechab- 
ites  (for  whose  name  see  Jeremiah  xxxv),  the  first 
‘Tent”  of  which  was  established  in  Boston  in  1841. 
It  received  its  name  and  form  from  a similar  order 
in  England,  established  at  Salford  in  1835.  Up 


Progression  : Abstinence. 


93 


to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War  this  order  had  a good 
groAvth.  Lately  its  prosperity  has  revived  some- 
what. 

A more  important  order  in  preserving  the 
fruits  of  the  Washingtonian  movement  was  th^X^ 
der  of  the  So^ns  of  Temperance,  organized  in  ISTew 
York  City  on  September  29,  1842,  in  Teetotaler’s 
Hall,  71  Division  Street.  This  order,  like  the  pre- 
ceding one,  was  beneficiary.  It  grew  rapidly, 
reaching  the  zenith  of  its  prosperity  at  the  close 
of  the  first  decade  of  its  existence,  with  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a million  members.  This  order  was 
introduced  into  Great  Britain  in  184Y,  and  has 
since  spread  widely  to  other  countries.  Since 
1866  women  have  been  admitted  to  full  member- 
ship. 

The  Cadets  of  Temperance,  offspring  of  the 
Sons  of  Temperance,  and  composed  of  youth,  at- 
tained an  independent  existence  between  the  years 
1845-47,  at  the  time  when  Bands  of  Hope  sprang 
up  in  England.  Cold  Water  Armies  had  already 
been  in  existence  in  this  country  for  some  years. 
In  1839,  Rev.  John  Marsh,  the  corresponding  sec- 
retary of  the  American  Temperance  Union,  had 


94 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 


started  a paper,  The  Youth’s  Temperance  Banner, 
in  which  ‘‘the  doings  of  the  juveniles  were  first 
brought  to  light.” 

In  1845,  the  Templars  of  Honor  and  Temper- 
ance, offspring  likewise  of  the  Sons  of  Temper- 
ance, came  into  being.  Organized  by  the  members 
of  the  latter  order,  and  intended  at  first  only  as  a 
higher  degree  in  that  order — for  more  educational 
work  and  a study  of  methods  of  active  propagand- 
ism — it  separated  from  its  parent  in  1846,  and 
soon  spread  over  the  country  and  into  Canada.  As 
the  temple  succeeded  the  tabernacle  in  the  wilder- 
ness, not  to  be  taken  down  or  folded  up,  so  the  name 
of  this  order  was  to  be  a s}anbol  of  its  permanence. 
In  1878,  an  endowment  plan,  with  sick  and  death 
benefits,  was  adopted. 

What  proved  to  become  the  largest  of  all  the 
fraternal  ( Mnperance  orders  originated  in  Central 
Hew  Yorbl^n  1851 — the  Order  of^Good  Templars. 
During  this  j^ar  a lodge  at  Utica  and  at  Oriskany 
Falls,  belonging  to  an  ephemeral  temperance  or- 
ganization with  fantastic  rites,  called  the  Knights 
of  Jericho,  resolved  to  form  a new  organization, 
with  a new  ritual.  They  called  themselves  “Good 


Pkogkession  : Abstinence. 


95 


Templars,”  to  sustain  their  recognition  as  an  indi- 
vidual body.  About  a dozen  lodges  were  thus  or- 
ganized in  Oneida  County,  when  in  July,  1852, 
at  a convention  of  these  lodges  in  Utica,  the  newly- 
organized  lodge  at  Syracuse  withdrew,  through  a 
grievance  of  its  leader,  Levrett  E.  Coon,  and  re- 
solved itself  into  an  ‘‘Independent”  Order  of  Good 
Templars,  changing  its  motto  to  Eaith,  Hope,  and 
Charity.  Some  of  the  other  lodges  joined  in 
this- — practically  all  of  them  later;  and  thus  con- 
stituted, this  organization  was  to  become  the  fruit- 
ful parent  of  a multitude.  The  order  grew  rap- 
idly. In  1855,  at  a meeting  of  the  Grand  Lodges 
of  ten  States,  in  Cleveland,  the  Right  Worthy 
Grand  Lodge  was  organized  as  the  supreme  head 
of  the  order.  In  1874,  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Hastings, 
for  a number  of  years  the  head  of  the  order,  was 
sent  to  Australia  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  in 
the  interests  of  temperance.  Since  then  it  has  ex- 
tended over  all  the  earth.  In  1876,  at  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  the  Grand  Lodges  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  seceded,  ostensibly  over  the  question  of  ex- 
tending the  order  to  the  Hegroes.  In  1887, 
through  the  persevering  labors  of  John  B.  Finch, 


96 


A Century  of  Dkink  RuFOEir. 


for  three  years  the  head  of  the  order,  this  breach 
was  healed.  Through  the  agency  of  this  temper- 


The  Washingtonian  movement,  though  of  brief 
duration,  served  to  give  a new  impulse  to  the 
growth  of  temperance  sentiment.  In  1842,  the 
Congressional  Temperance  Society  was  re-organ- 
ized, with  over  eighty  members,  upon  a basis  of 
total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors. 
Hon.  George  H.  Briggs,  of  Massachusetts,  later 
for  a number  of  years  the  governor  of  that  State, 
a man  zealous  in  behalf  of  temperance,  and  one 
of  the  finest  types  of  manhood  produced  by  this 
State  of  many  grand  men — became  the  president 
of  this  society.  In  January  of  the  same  year  both 
houses  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  at  Har- 
risburg, adjourned  to  attend,  with  the  governor 
and  the  heads  of  State  departments,  the  session  of 
the  State  Temperance  Convention  held  in  that 
city.  The  following  year  the  Corporation  of  He'^ 
York  City  voted  to  provide  no  intoxicating  liquo 


at  the  banquet  and  reception  to  he  given  to  the 


Pkogression  : Abstinence. 


97 


President  of  the  United  States  in  June;  and  no 
wine  was  provided  at  the  massive  Bunker  Hill 
celebration  in  Boston,  the  same  month.  Ho  wine 
was  served  at  the  festivities  attending  the  inaugu- 
ration of  Edward  Everett  as  President  of  Harvard 
College,  in  1846.  Reuben  H.  Walworth,  Chan- 
cellor of  the  State  of  Hew  York,  had  become  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Temperance  Union  in  1845, 
succeeding  General  J.  H.  Cocke.  Dr.  Thomas 
Sewall,  of  Washington,  at  about  this  time  also, 
had  prepared  his  plates  of  the  human  stomach, 
showing  that  organ  in  all  stages  from  health  to 
death  by  delirium  tremens.  Through  the  liberal- 
ity and  personal  labors  of  Mr.  E.  C.  Delavan, 
these  were  hung  as  charts  in  schools,  prisons,  and 
public  institutions  of  various  kinds.  Temperance 
lecturers  made  use  of  them,  moving  men  often- 
times to  conviction  where  argument  alone  failed. 

On  August  4,  1846,  the  first  World’s  Temper- 
ance Convention  met  in  London,  in  the  Covent 
Garden  Theater,  for  a five  days’  session.!  This 
event  marked  the  grandest  demonstration  in  favor 
of  the  temperance  cause  that  had  yet  been  wit- 
nessed in  England.  Among  the  thirty-two  Amer- 
7 


98 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


/ 


ican  representatives  present  were  Lyman  Beecher, 
E.  'N.  Kirk,  John  Marsh,  William  Lloyd  Garri- 
son, Elihu  Burritt,  and  Frederick  Douglass. 

One  of  the  most  effective  men  on  the  platform 
during  the  Washingtonian  decade  was  Dr.  Charles 
Jewett.  Relinquishing  a lucrative  medical  prac- 
tice in  1838,  and  with  a scientific  mastery  of  the 
subject  of  strong  drink,  he  addressed  himself 
chiefly  to  the  thinking  portion  of  the  community. 
His  lectures  were,  however,  popular  in  form,  and 
were  spiced  with  piquant  illustrations.  Jewett’s 
keen,  flashing  eye  would  kindle  any  audience,  and 
with  a vein  of  humor  unsurpassed  he  made  the 
hour  pass  rapidly,  and  made  his  second  appearance 
more  welcome  everywhere  than  his  first.  Many 
a temperance  speaker  of  that  day  filled  his  cruse 
at  the  sparkling  spring  of  Jewett’s  logic  and  wit. 
In  1849  he  published  his  lectures,  poems,  and 
other  Avritings  on  temperance.  Of  equally  keen 
wit,  incessant  and  most  fearless  advocate  of  tem- 
perance, was  that  hunchback  Wyoming  Valley 
Presbyterian  preacher,  with  a heart  as  generous 
as  his  wit  was  unsparing — ^Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt, 
or  “Hncle  Tommy”  Hunt,  as  he  was  familiarly 


Pkogkessiok  : Abstinence. 


99 


called.  It  was  he  who  had  been  chiefly  instru- 
mental in  enlisting  Dr.  Charles  Jewett  actively  in 
the  reform.  General  Ashbel  Riley,  of  Rochester, 
was  another  powerful  lecturer  in  those  days,  trav- 
eling extensively  over  this  country  and  in  Europe. 
Captain  Benjamin  Joy,  of  Ludlowville,  New 
York,  was  another  indomitable  pioneer  in  the  tem- 
perance reform,  who  for  fhrty-five  years  gave  his 
time  and  his  strength,  without  remuneration,  to 
the  cause.  After  Rev.  Joel  Jewell,  of  Hector,  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  organize  a teetotal  society 
at  Ludlowville.  It  was  at  a prayer-meeting  in  his 
home,  in  1843,  that  a young  Princeton  student 
decided  to  enter  the  ministry,  a man  still  young 
at  eighty,  whose  eloquent  voice  and  facile  pen  have 
for  more  than  half  a ceptnry  been  employed  with 
unflinching  courage  in  the  mighty  battle  against 
strong  drink;  namely,  Theodore  L.  Cuyler. 

Two  names  yet  remain — among  all  the  apos- 
tles of  temperance  the  most  famous.  As  at  the 
seventh  anniversary  of  the  American  Temperance 
IJnion  in  New  York  City  in  1843,  the  Hutchinson 
family  of  singers  from  New  Hampshire  were  in- 
troduced to  the  larger  world  and  to  fame,  so  at  the 


100  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


rcighth  anniversary,  in  1844,  in  the  same  city, 
John  B.  Gough  ivas  introduced  to  the  world.  A 
native  of  England,  but  since  the  age  of  twelve 
an  American;  a bookbinder  by  trade,  first  in  Xew 
York  City,  then  in  various  cities  in  Yew  England ; 
his  father  and  mother — godly  parents — some  years 
dead,  and  recently  also  his  wife  and  child,  from 
hunger  and  neglect ; John  B.  Gough,  now  at 
twenty-five  a hopeless  drunkard  and  wreck,  was 
invited  by  one  Joel  Stratton,  a Quaker,  on  the 
streets  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  to  attend  a 
temperance  meeting— in  October,  1842.  He  signs 
the  pledge;  he  tells  the  story  of  his  reformation 
in  the  rural  districts  of  Worcester  County,  after 
the  manner  of  a AVashingtonian ; he  succumbs 
again  to  his  old  habit,  but  only  to  confess  his  weak- 
ness in  open  meeting,  and  sign  again.  Marrying 
again  in  1843,  and  determined  now  to  devote  his 
life  to  rescuing  drunkards,  he  starts  out  through 
Yew  England  lecturing,  until  he  reaches  Boston, 
where  he  forms  the  friendship  of  Deacon  Moses 
Grant.  It  is  this  patron  of  temperance  who  intro- 
duces Gough  at  the  anniversary  in  Yew  York  City. 
Gough’s  gifts  are  at  once  recognized,  and  John 


Peogeession  : Abstinence. 


101 


Marsh,  the  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Temperance  Union,  engages  him  for  a tour 
through  I^ew  York  State.  His  fame  is  established ! 
A natural-born  orator,  of  unsurpassed  dramatic 
powers,  he  could  move  an  audience  to  laughter  or 
to  tears.  Prom  that  day  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
in  1886,  he  was  the  most  brilliant  and  famous 
speaker  on  the  temperance  platform,  and  one  of 
the  most  popular  lecturers  America  has  ever  had. 
Three  times  he  visited  England  in  the  interests  of 
the  reform. 

On  July  2,  1849,  Pather  Theobald  Mathew, 
the  great  Irish  apostle  of  temperance,  landed  in 
New  York  City.  His  American  tour  may  be  said 
to  close,  with  fitting  climax,  another  era  in  the 
great  temperance  reformation.  A humble  friar, 
ministering  in  a mission  chapel  in  Cork,  Pather 
Mathew’s  reception  in  America  was  such  as  the 
proudest  monarchs  of  earth  might  envy.  His  only 
title  to  distinction  lay  in  his  labors  on  behalf  of 
temperance.  A million  persons  and  more  had 
taken  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence  at  his  hands 
in  Ireland  and  Great  Britain.  Pather  Mathew 
had  taken  up  the  cause  of  temperance  through  the 


102  A Centtjet  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

influence  of  one  William  Martin,  a Quaker,  on  the 
governing  board  of  the  Cork  Workhouse,  with 
Mathew,  where  the  sad  results  of  drink  were  espe- 
cially manifest.  Having  sent  for  Martin  to  assist 
him  in  forming  a temperance  society,  Father 
Mathew  calls  a public  meeting  on  the  evening  of 
April  10,  1838,  and  is  the  first  to  affix  his  name  to 
the  pledge.  In  three  months  twenty-five  thousand 
had  signed,  and  Mathew  belonged  to  the  public 
from  now  on. 

Father  Mathew’s  welcome  to  Hew  York  City 
was  one  that  is  seldom  accorded  a foreigner.  Wel- 
comed officially  by  addresses  from  the  Board  of 
Aldermen,  the  mayor,  and  the  heads  of  the  differ- 
ent temperance  organizations  in  the  land,  the  pro- 
cession from  Castle  Garden  to  the  City  Hall  was 
a truly  triumphal  entry.  He  received  a similar 
official,  enthusiastic  welcome  in  Brooklyn,  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  and  other  cities.  He  "was  banqueted 
by  President  Taylor  at  the  YTiite  House ; honored 
by  the  United  States  Senate  with  admission  to  the 
bar  of  the  Senate  chamber,  a distinction  shown 
previously  to  but  one  foreigner — General  Lafa- 
yette. Among  the  eulogies  pronounced  on  this 


Progression  : Abstinence. 


103 


occasion  by  several  distingnisbed  senators  was  one 
by  Henry  Clay,  who  said;  “It  is  bnt  a merited 
tribute  of  respect  to  a man  who  has  achieved  a 
great  social  revolution — a revolution  in  which  no 
blood  has  been  shed,  a revolution  which  has  in- 
volved no  desolation,  which  has  caused  no  bitter 
tears  of  widows  and  orphans  to  flow;  a revolution 
which  has  been  achieved  without  violence,  and  a 
greater  one,  perhaps,  than  has  ever  been  accom- 
plished by  any  benefactor  of  mankind.” 

Father  Mathew  visited  twenty-flve  States,  ad- 
ministered the  pledge,  under  growing  ill-health,  to 
some  six  hundred  thousand  persons,  many  of  them 
— perhaps  most  of  them — his  own  co-religionists, 
whom  other  agencies  had  not,  or  could  not,  have 
reached.  On  November  8,  1851,  he  gave  his  fare- 
well address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  returned  to  his  native  land,  soon  to  rest  from 
his  labors. 

And  as  the  century  had  just  entered  its  third 
quarter,  so  the  reform  was  now  also  passing  over 
into  a third  phase. 


(in.) 


CHAPTER  III. 

Culmination  : Peohibition. 
1851-1856. 

That  the  principle  of  moderation  is  inadequate 
and  impracticable  as  a remedy  for  intemperance; 
that  the  total  abandonment  as  a beverage,  not  of 
ardent  spirits  only,  but  of  the  fermented  liquors 

}as  well  (being  in  no  sense  necessary  in  health), — 
is  the  only  wise  ground  and  sure  remedy : this  had 
'■>  become  the  accepted  opinion  and  ever-deepening 
conviction  at  the  time  of  which  we  write.  On  this 
' basis  an  incipient  reform  had  growm  into  a refor- 
mation, a social  revolution  espoused  by  men  fore- 
most in  mind  and  morals,  and  by  all  the  best  inter- 
ests in  society.  A propagandism  directed  with  sig- 
nal ability,  and  sustained  with  singular  enthusi- 
asm, had  led  men  by  the  hundred  thousands  in  all 
walks  of  life  to  resolve  that  they  would  put  away 
the  drunkard’s  cup  forever. 

But  this  had  not  all  proven  clear  gain.  The 
104 


CuaLMINATION  ; Pkohibitiok. 


105 


ranks  of  the  drunkard  were  being  recruited,  not 
alone  from  the  moderate  drinkers,  but  from  those 
who  had  taken  the  pledge  as  well.  They  meant 
to  keep  the  pledge,  but  fell  before  the  power  of  a 
returning  appetite.  How  many  went  down  again 
no  one  knows.  Perhaps  not  far  from  one-half. 
When  the  pledge  covered  only  spirituous  liquors 
the  trouble  was  readily  enough  seen,  and  the  pledge 
was  extended.  But  yet  it  did  not  avail.  With  the 
safeguard  and  support  of  a pledge  of  total  absti- 
nence from  all  intoxicants,  men  still  lapsed  into 
their  former  habits.  Of  the  half  million  that  were 
helped  to  their  feet  temporarily  by  the  Washing- 
tonian crusade,  it  was  estimated  that  two-thirds 
again  fell;  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
temperance  orders,  introduced  at  this  time,  aimed 
specifically  to  prevent  such  lapse.  Men  thought 
af  first  that  teetotalism  was  a solution  of  all  former 
difficulties,  and  would  prove  to  be  the  agency  of 
redemption.  In  1843  a huge  demonstration  had 
been  given  Father  Mathew  in  Cork,  for  Ireland 
was  considered  redeemed.  The  consumption  of 
strong  drink  had  been  reduced  by  over  one-half. 
But  Father  Mathew  went  on  a tour  to  England, 


106  A Centtjkt  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

and  the  consumption  of  liquor  increased  again. 
The  potato  famine  of  1845-47  increased  it  still 
more;  and  when  Father  Mathew  returned  from 
America,  sick  and  exhausted,  he  found  the  fruits 
of  his  labors  gradually  slipping  away, 
i Attention  had  been  concentrated  on  the  drinker 
; and  drunkard.  To  him  men  had  appealed,  first  to 
drink  only  moderately;  then  not  to  drink  at  all. 
Looking  about  now  in  perplexity,  eyes  fell  on  that 
f , other  man — on  him  who  hands  out  the  liquor  that 
makes  men  drunk.  Here  was  discovered  the  source 
i of  trouble.  Here  was  the  man  who  incited  afresh 
the  smothered  flames  of  thirst  which  men  were 
struggling  to  quench.  That  men  should  drink  was 
his  business,  his  living.  Through  every  avenue  he 
distributed  his  goods — at  the  grocery,  where  people 
buy;  at  the  tavern,  where  they  eat  and  lodge;  at 
the  grogshop,  ■ where  men  find  sociability ; at  the 
various  times  and  occasions  that  bring  people  to- 
gether— everywhere  men  were  brought  face  to  face 
.with  strong  drink  and  temptation.  And  no  man 
can  resist  temptation  beyond  a certain  point;  he 
must  be  kept  from  entering  in. 

That  making  a livelihood  out  of  a business 


Culmination  : Pkohibition. 


107 


whieli  thus  tempts  and  destroys  men  is  but  poor 
employment,  had  been  recognized  and  urged,  in- 
deed, early  in  the  reform.  Large  numbers  had  in 
consequence  entirely  abandoned  that  occupation; 
but  their  places  were  generally  only  again  taken 
I by  others  less  scrupulous.  From  this  position,  that 
f men  ought  to  quit  such  business,  conviction  moved 
I by  an  inevitable  transition  to  this  other  position; 

i 

j namely,  this  business,  being  the  great  remaining 
' obstacle  to  the  success  of  the  temperance  reforma- 
tion, should  and  must  cease. 

But  how?  Very  naturally,  go  to  the  dram- 
seller  with  moral  appeal  to  desist  selling,  as  men 
had  gone  to  the  drinker  to  desist  drinking.  If  the 
one  had  yielded  to  such  appeal,  why  should  not  the 
other?  It  was  the  attempt  to  put  this  belief  into 
practice  that  ushered  in  a new  era — the  third — in 
the  reform. 

Up  in  Portland,  Maine,  there  was  a man  in 
business,  of  Quaker  parents,  and  scarcely  over 
thirty,  who  had  already  in  various  ways  showed 
that  he  possessed  both  a firm  conviction  and  a reso- 
lute courage  in  the  matter  of  temperance.  His 
name  was  Heal  Dow.  He  had  just  secured  an  offi- 


108  A Centuky  of  Deink;  Refoem. 


cial  position  for  a friend,  a Harvard  graduate  and 
a man  of  fine  ability,  admirably  qualified  for  the 
place,  but  whose  tenure  of  it  was  conditioned  on 
his  keeping  strictly  sober.  An  attractive  and  very 
respectable  liquor  shop  in  the  vicinity  was  his  chief 
pitfall,  his  pride  still  keeping  him  from  the  lower 

(resorts.  Appealed  to  by  his  wife,  and  believing 
that  the  refusal  of  this  man  to  furnish  him  liquor 
would  help  him  in  his  resolve  to  abstain,  and  per- 
haps save  him  and  his  family  from  impending  ruin, 

I Dow  called  on  the  liquor-seller  and  laid  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  the  case  before  him. 

The  man  listened  respectfully,  and  Dow  he- 

ilieved  he  was  making  a fine  impression,  until, 
when  he  had  finished,  the  man  replied  to  this  ef- 
I feet:  ‘‘Mr.  Dow,  you  attend  to  your  business,  and 
; I Avill  look  after  my  own.  My  business  is  to  sell 
f liquor;  I have  paid  my  money  for  this  prh'ilege. 
That  money  helps  to  pay  your  taxes,  and  it ’s  small 
business  for  a man  to  come  around  here  trying  to 
prevent  me  from  doing  what  business  I can,  and 
I have  a right  to  under  the  law.  If  this  man  comes 
in  here  in  a sober  condition  and  asks  for  liquor,  I 
have  a right  to  sell  it  to  him,  and  shall  do  so.  And 


Culmination  : Pkohibition. 


109 


I do  n’t  want  you  to  come  around  whining  about  it, 
either.”  Stung  to  the  quick  with  disappointment 
and  indignation,  Neal  Dow  said  that  he  would  see 
j to  it  that  sooner  or  later  he  and  all  like  him  were 
j driven  from  the  community,  unless  they  abandoned 
I their  infamous  business.  The  very  license,  as  it 

\ hung  in  plain  sight  behind  the  bar,  seemed  itself 

\ to  shout  in  exultation,  “The  State  of  Maine  gives 
him  this  right !” 

The  temperance  reform  hitherto  had  encoun- 
tered only  human  appetite.  This,  though  persist- 
ent enough,  had  yet  yielded  largely  to  moral  ap- 
peal. Now  the  reform  was  to  encounter  a more 
i cruel  and  unconquerable  foe;  namely,  human  ava- 
rice. But  Dow’s  promise  to  the  liquor-seller  proved 
I to  be  no  idle  threat.  The  words  had  burned  them- 
selves deeply  into  his  soul.  It  was  his  business  to 
sell  liquor,  the  man  had  said ; he  had  paid  for  that 
privilege.  He  had  a “right”  to  sell,  consequently, 
y es,  so  his  license  stated.  His  license ! A license 
then  means,  not  restriction  or  regulation,  but  per- 
mission— for  money.  Shame ! for  a people,  for 
such  a bribe,  to  allow  that  a man  may  do  evil.  But 
the  power  to  grant  this  privilege  involves  the 


110  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Refokm. 

power,  also,  to  witliliold  it!  And  Real  Dow  sol- 
I einnly  vows  before  God  that  he  will  carry  his  ap- 
I peal  to  the  people  of  the  State  of  Maine,  who  have 
I given  this  man  such  right,  that  they  shall  take 
f away  from  him  that  right,  and  outlaw  from  the 
f State  this  business  which  thus  impoverishes  and 
destroys  her  citizens. 

He  canvasses  the  State  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  giving  addresses,  holding  mass-meetings, 
scattering  broadcast  temperance  literature.  Real 
Dow  becomes  the  stonn-center  of  the  new  agitation. 
The  arguments,  taken  from  facts  near  at  hand,  are 
irresistible.  Maine,  rich  in  natural  resources,  yet 
poor.  The  products  of  her  two  principal  indus- 
tries, lumbering  and  the  fisheries,  exported  chiefly 
to  the  West  Indies,  receiving  in  return  rum  and 
molasses ; consuming  the  rum,  and  converting  the 
molasses  into  rum  and  consmning  that  also.  This 
in  addition  to  the  native  product,  for  Maine  was 
still  overrun  Avith  breAveries  and  distilleries.  So 
that  the  vast  wealth  of  the  forests  and  fisheries 
went  doAAm  the  throats  of  the  people  in  the  form  of 
strong  drink,  and  Avith  all  their  labor  they  Avere  left 
only  the  poorer.  Signs  of  AAnetchedness  and  pov- 


CuLMiNATioisr : Prohibition. 


Ill 


erty  abounded  everywhere.  Parms  carelessly 
tilled;  fences  tumbled  down;  neglect  about  the 
house — gates  unhinged,  blinds  coming  off,  window 
panes  broken,  with  an  old  hat  or  garment  put  in 
the  place  to  keep  out  the  cold. 

But  persistent  seed-sowing  at  lengfh  yielded  its 

(harvest.  After  an  unsuccessful  law  in  1846 
(which  lacked  the  means  for  its  own  enforcement), 
came  the  absolutely  prohibitory  law  of  1851,  in 
effect  July  4th  (Independence-day!),  the  first- 
I fruits  of  prohibition  from  the  ripened  fields  of 
temperance  reform.  ISlo  citizen  of  Maine  shall 
henceforth  be  permitted,  for  a money  consider- 
ation, to  put  a block  of  stumbling  in  his  brother’s 
way;  or  to  rob  those  who  are  weak,  because  he  is 
willing  to  share  his  booty  with  the  State.  The 
liquor  business  is  outlawed.  Heal  Dow,  as  mayor 
of  Portland,  the  framer  and  champion  of  this  meas- 
ure, becomes  the  father  of  the  “Maine  LaV’ — the 
model  for  all  similar  laws  that  were  to  follow. 

Let  us  pause  here  to  note  more  in  detail  the 
successive  stages  by  which  we  have  come  thus  far : 

First.  The  sale  of  strong  drink,  being  recog- 
nized as  fraught  with  abuse  and  evil,  was  sought 


112  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

to  be  properly  restricted  with  various  regulations, 
according  to  no  definite  plan  or  principle,  but  as 
expediency  seemed  to  suggest  from  time  to  time. 
Accordingly,  from  earliest  colonial  days  we  bave 
such  regulations  as  these : fixing  the  price  of  beer 
and  ale  at  one  penny,  then  at  two  pence ; punishing 
drunkenness — now  the  drunkard  only,  now  the 
keeper  of  the  public  house  also ; forbidding  drink- 
ing to  one’s  health — permitting  it  again;  laying  a 
duty — ^taking  it  off  again ; forbidding  the  sale  on 
certain  hours  of  the  Sabbath,  now  for  the  entire 
day ; limiting  the  number  of  retailers  to  a tovm — 
removing  such  limit;  making  debts  for  liquor  un- 
recoverable; making  it  unlawful  to  sell  on  credit 
beyond  ten  shillings — to  sell  on  credit  at  all ; post- 
ing a list  of  habitual  tipplers  in  every  public-house ; 
taxing  the  distiller  and  brewer;  licensing  the  ven- 
der of  spirituous  liquors — of  vinous  and  malt  liq- 
uors also ; making  the  license  fee  small,  now  larger ; 
allowing  the  sale  of  larger  quantities  without  li- 
cense ; requiring  a license  for  every  sale,  etc. ; and, 
lastly,  requiring  of  the  liquor-seller  a bond  for  the 
proper  observance  of  these  regulations. 

Second.  The  traffic  in  strong  drink  is  not  so 


Culmination  : Pkohibition. 


113 


much  merely  disposed  to  evil,  and  therefore  to  be 
regulated ; it  is  itself  evil,  and  should  therefore  be 
abandoned.  It  is  in  violation  of  the  law  of  God, 
which  leads  not  into  temptation,  and  works  no  ill 
to  his  neighbor. 

In  the  fifth  report  of  the  American  Temper- 
ance Society,  in  1832,  Justin  Edwards  set  forth 
this  truth  with  great  power  and  conclusiveness. 
This  report  went  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  It 
passed  through  several  editions,  and  was  reprinted 
in  England.  Chancellor  Reuben  H.  Walworth,  of 
Rew  York  State,  wrote:  ‘Tt  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  the  temporal  and  eternal  interests  of 
our  citizens  that  a stop  should  be  put  to  the  sale  of 
ardent  spirits  as  speedily  as  possible.  . . . 

Satisfy  the  unrefiecting  vender  of  ardent  spirits 
that  he  is  morally  responsible  for  all  the  crime  and 
misery  which  his  maddening  potations  naturally 
produce,  and  he  will  relinquish  the  demoralizing 
traffic.”  The  Churches  of  Yew  England  at  this 
time  voted  not  to  admit  to  membership  any  who 
refused  to  give  up  this  business. 

Third.  If  the  traffic  in  strong  drink  is  itself 
evil,  and  wrong,  so  that  no  man  should  engage  in 
8 


114  A Cejsttuky  of  Deink  Refoem. 

it,  then  the  law  that  permits  this  traffic  is  wrong, 
and  should  be  repealed. 

The  sixth  report  of  the  American  Temperance 
Society,  in  1833,  by  Justin  Edwards,  devoted  itseK 
to  the  clear  demonstration  of  this  truth.  This  re- 
port, too,  was  widely  read,  and  its  position  com- 
mended by  such  men  as.  Presidents  Erancis  Way- 
land,  Heman  Humphrey,  and  Wilbur  Eisk;  by 
Hon.  Mark  Doolittle,  Gerrit  Smith,  Edward  C. 
Delavan,  Theodore  Erelinghuysen,  and  Chief  Jus- 
tice David  Daggett,  of  Connecticut. 

The  step  here  was  simply  for  the  repeal  of  all 
license  laws,  which  were  recognized  to  be  essen- 
tially pemiissive.  As  Hon.  Theodore  Erelinghuy- 
sen, the  distinguished  senator  from  Hew  Jersey, 
said : “If  men  will  engage  in  this  destructive  traf- 
fic ; if  they  will  stoop  to  degrade  their  reason  and 
reap  the  wages  of  iniquity,  let  them  no  longer  have 
the  Law  Book  as  a pillow.”  Hon,  John  Cotton 
Smith,  ex-Governor  of  Connecticut,  wrote:  “I  am 
decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  all  laws  for  licensing 
and  regulating  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  ought  to 
be  instantly  repealed — 1.  Because,  if  intended  as 
a source  of  revenue,  they  are  manifestly  immoral; 


CULMISTATIOK  : PkOHIBITION. 


115 


2.  If  considered  as  sumptuary  laws,  which  hy  their 
operation  are  designed  to  restrain  the  sale  and  con- 
sumption of  that  article,  they  are  wholly  ineffi- 
cient.” What  benefit  such  repeal  would  work  is  set 
forth  by  Judge  Jonas  Platt  of  the  blew  York  State 
Supreme  Bench,  distinguished  alike  as  jurist  and 
philanthropist,  in  an  address  before  the  Clinton 
County  Temperance  Society,  on  February  26,  1833 
(the  day  of  simultaneous  temperance  mass-meet- 
ings throughout  the  country)  ; namely : “By  fair 
construction,  such  license  and  tax  legalize  the  traf- 
fic, and  a plausible  excuse  is  afforded  to  those  who 
now  pay  a premium  for  such  legislative  sanction. 
The  law  is  an  impediment  to  the  Temperance  Ref- 
ormation. Let  reason  have  free  action  and  fair 
play,  and  we  ask  nothing  more.  Public  opinion 
would  be  brought  to  bear  with  much  greater  force 
against  the  practice  of  retailing  this  poison  if 
dramshops  were  left  unlicensed  and  unsanctioned 
by  any  statute  regulations  whatever.  Whenever 
public  opinion  and  the  moral  sense  of  our  commu- 
nity shall  be  so  far  corrected  and  matured  as  to  re- 
gard them  in  this  true  light,  and  when  the  public 
safety  shall  be  thought  to  require  it,  dramshops 


116  A Cektuey  of  Dedstk;  Eefoem. 

will  be  indictable  at  common  law  as  public  nui- 
sances/’ That  is  what  in  fact  bad  been  done  a year 
or  two  before  in  the  city  of  Washington.  Upon  the 
opinion  of  Hon.  William  Wirt,  Attorney-General 
of  the  United  States,  that  they  had  this  power  if 
the  public  good  required  it,  the  Board  of  Health  of 
that  city  had  pronounced  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits 
a public  nuisance,  and  ordered  it  discontinued  for 
the  space  of  ninety  days. 

Beginning  at  about  this  time,  licenses  were  re- 
fused in  a number  of  towns  and  counties  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  elsewhere,  and  in  many  of  these  ar- 
dent spirits  ceased  to  be  sold.  Petitions  were  pre- 
sented to  State  Legislatures  during  the  thirties, 
asking  that  all  license  laws  be  repealed.  Heal  Dow 
writes  of  this  period,  many  years  afterwards  in  his 
Autobiography:  ^‘The  question  whether  licenses 
should  be  granted,  however,  was  a practical  one 
only  from  a moral  and  educational  point  of  view. 
Liquor-selling  was  by  no  means  confined  to  li- 
censed dealers.  Everybody  sold  who  cared  to  sell. 
Only  the  ‘good’  citizens  who  desired  to  deal  in  it 
took  the  trouble  to  obtain  the  legal  permission  to 
do  so.  Eestrictive  clauses  of  the  law  were  gener- 


CULMII^ATION  : PEOHIBITIOlSr. 


117 


ally  disregarded  by  the  licensed  sellers,  while  the 
prohibitive  features  had  no  restraining  effect  upon 
those  who  could  not,  or  did  not  trouble  themselves 
to,  obtain  licenses.  The  authorities,  as  a rule, 
made  no  attempt  to  enforce  the  law  against  either 
class  of  violators.  ISTevertheless,  we  believed  it 
would  be  of  immense  value  in  its  moral  effect  and 
educational  influence  if  the  regularly  elected  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people  should  ofiicially  declare 
against  giving  the  sanction  of  law  to  the  iniquitous 
trade;  hence  the  action  of  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance.” 

Fourth.  Since  the  trafiic  in  strong  drink  is 
evil,  and  morally  wrong,  not  only  should  the  public 
sanction  of  it,  in  the  form  of  license,  be  withheld ; 
but  the  continued  sale  should  be  prohibited  by  law. 
( Judge  Platt,  in  his  address  already  referred 
I to,  had  said  that  they  asked  for  no  coercive  legis- 
I iation,  but  only  the  repeal  of  permissive  laws. 

! Justin  Edwards,  in  his  report  of  the  American 
Temperance  Society,  already  mentioned,  had  taken 
the  same  position,  yet  had  confessed  that  if,  after 
such  legal  sanction  had  been  taken  away,  and  the 
power  of  public  sentiment  and  moral  appeal  had 


118  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

done  its  perfect  work,  men  still  persist  in  the 
traffic,  then  the  State  might  step  in  and  take  such 
measures  in  self-defense  as  it  deemed  adequate. 
Gerrit  Smith,  of  Peterboro,  i^’ew  York, — ^he  portly 
in  appearance,  princely  in  manners  and  munifi- 
cence, the  embodiment  of  benignity  and  grace ; in 
the  very  forefront  of  the  twin  reform  movements — 
abolition  and  temperance,  and  later  member  of 
Congress, — Gerrit  Smith,  as  early  as  1833,  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Temperance  So- 
ciety in  Rew  York  City,  in  May,  had  introduced 
a resolution  calling  for  the  abolition  of  the  traffic 
in  ardent  spirits  by  laAV.  He  argued  that  public 
opinion  was  far  in  advance  of  the  laws;  that  the 
law  be  brought  up  to  the  level  of  public  opinion, 
lest  public  opinion  fall  back  to  the  level  of  the 
laws.  “Could  a society  that  should  require  its 
members  to  abstain  from  purchasing  lottery  tickets 
be  expected  to  preserve  silence  on  the  subject  of 
lottery  offices  ?”  (Lotteries  were  just  beginning 
to  be  abolished  by  law.)  “Ho  more  can  a society, 
formed  to  dissuade  men  from  drinking  spirits,  look 
with  indifference  on  the  attractions  and  snares  of 
the  rum  shop.” 


Culmination  : Pkohibition. 


119 


That  this  step  should  be  taken  was  inevitable. 
In  the  course  of  a few  years  a system  of  local 
option  came  into  effect  quite  generally.  Towns 
and  counties  did  not  only  withhold  license,  but 
made  it  a punishable  offense  to  sell  without  a li- 
cense. Thus  in  1842  there  was  but  one  county  in 
Massachusetts  where  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors 
was  licensed,  and  for  several  years  there  was  not 
a single  licensed  house  for  the  sale  of  spirits  in 
Boston.  The  result  of  all  this  was  a move  by  the 
liquor  men — precisely  what  temperance  men  had 
advocated  a few  years  before — to  sweep  away  all 
license  and  restrictive  laws  as  unconstitutional, 
claiming  the  right  to  sell  without  a license  or  ex- 
press permission.  Suits  which  involved  this  prin- 
ciple were  carried  from  ISTew  Hampshire,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Ehode  Island,  to  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  in  1845,  on  appeal  by  the  liquor 
men.  Although  they  had  both  Webster  and  Choate 
to  argue  their  case,_  the  verdict  was  against  them. 
On  March  6,  1847,  before  an  anxious  public,  the 
Supreme  Court  handed  down  its  decision — the  first 
one  arising  out  of  the  temperance  movement. 

Chief  Justice  Roger  B.  Taney,  in  his  opinion. 


120  A Centtjky  of  Deink  Refoem. 

! said:  “Every  State  may  regulate  its  own  internal 
; traffic  according  to  its  own  judgment,  and  upon  its 
own  views  of  the  interest  and  well-being  of  its 
citizens.  I am  not  aware  that  these  principles 
• have  ever  been  questioned.  If  any  State  deems  the 
retail  and  internal  traffic  in  ardent  spirits  injuri- 
ous to  its  citizens,  and  calculated  to  produce  illness, 
vice,  and  debauchery,  I see  nothing  in  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  to  prevent  it  from  regu- 
lating and  restraining  the  traffic,  or  from  prohibit- 
ing it  altogether  if  it  thinks  proper.” 

I'  Justice  Catron:  “I  admit,  as  inevitable,  that  if 
ithe  State  has  the  power  of  restraint  by  license  to 
I any  extent,  she  has  the  discretionary  power  to 
f judge  of  its  limits,  and  to  go  to  the  length 
of  prohibiting  sales  altogether  if  such  be  her  pol- 
icy; and  that  if  the  court  can  not  interfere  in  the 
case  before  us,  neither  can  we  interfere  in  the  ex- 
treme case  of  entire  exclusion.” 

Justice  Grier:  “It  is  not  necessary  to  array  the 
appalling  statistics  of  misery,  pauperism,  and 
crime  which  have  their  origin  in  the  use  or  abuse 
of  ardent  spirits.  The  police  power,  which  is  ex- 
clusively in  the  States,  is  alone  competent  to  the 
correction  of  these  great  evils,  and  all  measures  of 


Culmination  : Pkohibition. 


121 


restraint  and  prohibition  necessary  to  effect  the 
purpose  are  within  the  scope  of  that  authority. 
All  laws  for  the  restraint  or  punishment  of  crime, 
for  the  preservation  of  the  public  peace,  health 
and  morals,  are,  from  their  very  nature,  of  pri- 
mary importance,  and  lie  at  the  foundation  of 
social  existence.  They  are  for  the  protection  of 
life  and  liberty,  and  necessarily  compel  all  laws 
of  secondary  importance  which  relate  only  to  prop- 
erty, convenience,  or  luxury,  to  recede  when  they 
come  into  contact  or  collision.” 

Justice  Woodbury:  ‘‘After  articles  have  come 
within  the  territorial  limits  of  States,  whether  on 
land  or  water”  (Webster  had  argued  that  the  right 
to  import  implies  the  right  to  sell)  “the  destruc- 
tion itself  of  that  which  constitutes  disease  and 
death,  and  the  longer  continuance  of  such  articles 
within  their  limits,  or  the  terms  and  conditions 
of  their  continuance,  when  conflicting  with  their 
legitimate  police,  or  with  their  power  over  internal 
commerce,  or  with  their  right  of  taxation  over  all 
persons  and  property  within  their  jurisdiction, 
seems  to  me  one  of  the  first  principles  of  State 
sovereignty  and  indispensable  to  public  safety.” 


122  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

With  this  decision  the  way  was  clear  for  a fur- 
ther and  final  advance ; namely : 

Fifth.  The  complete  prohibition,  by  the  State, 
of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
for  beverage  purposes. 

Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  in  his  famous  Six  Ser- 
mons, had  already  suggested  the  necessity  for  gen- 
eral prohibitory  legislation.  Among  the  first 
clearly  to  state  this  principle  and  publicly  to  cham- 
pion it  was  General  James  Appleton,  a veteran  of 
the  War  of  1812,  a man  of  high  character,  of  great 
ability  and  influence,  and  of  unflinching  moral 
courage.  A member  of  the  Maine  Legislature 
from  Portland,  he  was  made  chairman  of  a special 
committee,  appointed  by  that  body  in  1837,  to  take 
into  consideration  the  entire  subject  of  the  license 
system  of  the  State.  Some  alteration  in  the  license 
laws  was  widely  called  for.  The  report  of  this 
committee,  prepared  by  General  Appleton,  after 
calling  attention  to  the  numerous  changes  that  had 
been  made  from  time  to  time  in  license  laws  ever 
since  such  laws  were  first  passed  by  Massachusetts 
in  1646,  pointed  out  that  the  difficulty  lay  not  in 
the  form  of  the  law,  or  in  the  mere  manner  of 


CULMINATIOIir  : PltOHIBITIOlSr. 


123 


granting  the  license — circumstances  of  but  little 
moment, — but  in  the  principle  of  the  law  itself. 
‘‘They  authorize  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  for  com- 
mon use ; this  is  the  principle  that  gives  them  char- 
acter,” he  writes.  To  these  laws  is  attributed  the 
wide  prevalence  of  intemperance.  “They  make  it 
lawful  and  reputable  for  a person  who  has  a li- 
cense to  sell  it,  and  of  course  not  improper  nor  dis- 
honorable to  purchase  and  use  it.”  As  a remedy 
the  report  suggests : “When  it  is  seen  that  the  traffic 
in  any  article  entails  not  only  pauperism  and  crim6 
upon  the  community,  but  that  in  numerous  cases 
it  threatens  human  life,  and  in  many  instances  de- 
stroys it  at  once,  it  is  difficult  of  escaping  the  con- 
clusion that  the  government  should  interfere  and 
prohibit  it  altogether.  . . . It  is  sufficiently 

difficult  to  reform  the  manners  and  habits  of  the 
community  when  the  influence  and  authority  of 
the  law  can  be  brought  to  aid  the  object,  but  to  do 
this  against  the  law  and  against  the  direct  and  pow- 
erful interests  of  a numerous  class  of  men  created 
by  law  is  scarcely  possible.  . . . The  mere 

existence  of  such  a (prohibitory)  law  would  exert 
the  most  salutary  influence  upon  the  public  mind. 


124:  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Eefoeii. 


It  would  of  itself  go  far  to  create  public  opinion 
in  regard  to  tbe  necessity  of  ardent  spirits,  for  it 
is  no  more  true  that  the  laws  are  an  expression  of 
public  opinion  than  that  they  influence  public 
opinion.  They  are  as  surely  the  cause  as  the  effect 
of  the  popular  will.” 

This  report  was  widely  read  throughout  the 
State,  and  did  much  to  mold  sentiment.  From 
this  time  onward  the  subject  was  constantly  kept 
before  the  Legislature  and  the  people,  through  the 
instrumentality  chiefly  of  the  Maine  Temperance 
Union,  which  included  in  its  membership  many  of 
the  foremost  citizens  of  the  State,  until  in  1845 
,a  Legislative  body  had  been  elected  pledged  to 
/total  abstinence  and  favorable  to  prohibition.  The 
result  was  the  flrst  probihitory  law,  in  1846,  passed 
by  a vote  of  81  to  42  in  the  House,  and  of  23  to  5 

I in  the  Senate,  and  signed  by  Governor  Anderson. 

' After  several  unsuccessful  efforts,  later,  to  pass 
measures  remedying  the  practical  defects  in  the 
law,  a new  bill  was  brought  before  the  Legislature, 
which,  after  being  thoroughly  discussed  in  two  ses- 
sions, was  passed  by  a two-thirds  vote  of  both 
houses,  and  on  June  2d  was  signed  by  Governor 
Hubbard,  going  into  effect  July  4th — the  law  of 


Culmination  : Peohibition. 


125 


1851.  With  this  event  the  era  of  prohibition  be- 
gins. 

Other  States  were  not  slow  to  follow.  Maine 
had  proved  herself  true  to  her  motto  as  the  Dirigo 
State — “I  direct.”  Sentiment  had  been  slowly 
maturing  elsewhere.  In  a number  of  States  a ma- 
jority of  the  towns  had  already  for  several  years 
declared  against  license.  They  were  now  ready 
to  adopt  the  Maine  law. 

1852.  In  March  the  Territory  of  Minnesota, 
by  popular  vote,  ratifies  the  adoption  of  Maine 
Law.  The  courts,  however,  declared  ‘That  the  sub- 
mission of  this  question  to  the  people  for  a popular 
vote  had  been  unconstitutional and  prohibition  is 
in  operation  but  for  a short  time.  Rhode  Island,  in 
May,  adopted  a similar  law,  strengthening  it  by 
subsequent  enactments.  Massachusetts,  in  the 
same  month,  followed  with  a Maine  Law.  The  sec- 
tion relating  to  search  was  declared  unconstitu- 
tional, the  law  otherwise  standing.  Its  place  was 
taken  by  the  more  elaborate  law  of  1855.  Yer- 
mont,  in  December,  closed  the  year  with  a Maine 
Law,  a law  that  was  to  stand  uninterruptedly  for 
over  half  a century. 


126  A Centuey  of  Deink:  Refoem. 

During  this  same  year — 1852 — the  Sons  of 
Temperance  also  declared  for  prohibition. 

1853.  By  act  of  the  Legislature,  a Maine  Law 
was  submitted  to  the  people  of  Michigan  for  a vote, 
who  declared  for  it  by  a majority  of  twenty  thou- 
sand. The  court  was  equally  divided  on  the  con- 
stitutionality of  the  submission  clause.  The  law 
remained,  but  its  enforcement  was  practically  sus- 
pended. It  was  superseded  by  the  more  perfect 
law  of  1855. 

On  September  6th,  the  second  World’s  Tem- 
perance Convention  met  in  ISTew  York  City,  with 
delegates  from  every  State,  from  Canada,  and  from 
Great  Britain.  Yeal  Dow  was  elected  president 
of  the  Convention,  a testimony  to  his  service  in  the 
cause  of  prohibition.  The  Maine  Law  formed  the 
chief  topic  of  discussion  during  the  sessions. 

The  cause  had  already  found  friends  in  other 
lands.  In  England,  on  June  1st  of  this  same 
year — 1853 — the  United  Kingdom  Alliance  had 
been  organized  for  “the  total  and  immediate  legis- 
lative suppression  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating 
liquors  as  beverages.”  The  initiative  in  this  move- 
ment was  taken  by  Mr.  Kathaniel  Card,  of  Man- 


Culmination  : Pbohibition. 


127 


Chester,  a member  of  the  Society  of  Priends,  in 
consultation  with  the  leading  temperance  men  of 
England.  Sir  W.  C.  Trevelyan,  Bt.,  was  made 
president  of  the  Alliance.  In  the  Canadian  Par- 
liament, this  same  year,  prohibition  was  defeated 
by  but  four  votes. 

185 If.  In  June,  Connecticut,  by  a vote  of  148 
to  61  in  the  House,  and  of  19  to  2 in  the  Senate, 
adopts  a prohibitory  law. 

In  March  of  the  same  year  the  Legislature  of 
Hew  York,  by  a vote  of  almost  two  to  one,  had  en- 
acted a prohibitory  law;  but  Governor  Horatio 
Seymour,  notwithstanding  this  vote  and  the  ex- 
pressed will  of  the  people,  vetoed  the  measure, 
claiming  that  it  was  oppressive  and  in  certain  fea- 
tures unconstitutional,  and  that,  in  general,  entire 
prohibition  would  be  injurious  rather  than  bene- 
ficial to  the  temperance  cause.  That  this  veto 
would  be  accepted  as  a finality  by  the  people  on 
this  question  was  not  to  be  expected.  Their  mind 
had  been  made  up.  As  Horace  Greeley,  who  did 
yeoman  service  in  the  reform,  said  in  the  Tribune: 
“What  the  temperance  men  demand  is  not  the 
regulation  of  the  liquor  traffic,  but  its  destruction. 


128  A Centuey  of  Deink;  Refoem. 

not  that  its  evils  be  circumscribed  (idle  fancy!)  or 
veiled,  but  that  they  be,  to  the  extent  of  the  State’s 
ability,  uttered  eradicated.” 

1855.  In  April  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
for  a second  time  passes  a prohibitory  law.  Ho- 
ratio Seymour  is  no  longer  in  the  governor’s  chair 
to  veto  this  measure;  but  in  bis  stead  the  people 
have  elected  Myron  H.  Clarke,  who  bad  been  the 
able  champion  in  the  State  Senate  of  the  measure 
that  perished  the  year  before  in  Governor  Sey- 
mour’s bands.  The  new  governor  promptly  signs 
the  bill,  and  prohibition  goes  into  effect  on  July 
4tb  of  this  year.  On  this  day  ten  thousand  people 
assemble  on  the  magnificent  estate  of  the  Earl  of 
Harrington,  at  Derby,  England,  in  honor  of  the 
event.  An  English  and  an  American  oak  are 
planted  side  by  side,  and  a granite  block  is  erected 
with  appropriate  inscription  to  commemorate  an 
event  “so  important  to  the  world.”  But  the  fruits 
of  victory  were  soon  to  perish.  The  law  was  forced 
into  the  labyrinth  of  Justice,  and  in  so  doing  left 
hope  behind.  The  Court  of  Appeals,  by  a vote  of 
five  to  three,  in  March,  1856,  pronounces  the  law 
unconstitutional.  The  grounds  of  the  majority  de- 
cision were  severely  attacked  by  some  of  the  most 


CuLMINATIO]Sr  : Peohibitiost. 


129 


eminent  jurists  in  the  land;  the  contention  of  the 
court  being  that  the  law  made  no  distinction  be- 
tween liquor  on  hand  at  the  time,  and  what  might 
be  later  acquired;  holding  the  confiscation  of  the 
former  to  be  in  violation  of  that  portion  of  the 
Constitution  which  declares  that  ^‘no  person  shall 
be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without 
due  process  of  law”  Hon.  Henry  Dutton,  Kent 
Professor  of  Law  in  Yale,  and  governor  of  Con- 
necticut, in  a review  of  this  decison,  said  that  if 
the  depreciation  of  the  value  of  an  article  renders 
a law  unconstitutional,  ‘‘then  the  statute-books  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  State  of  Kew  York 
are  full  of  unconstitutional  laws.” 

Having  been  thus  twice  balked  in  her  fervent 
zeal  to  reform,  the  Empire  State  in  angry  and  sore 
despair  gave  herself  over  to  evil  entirely — to  this 
day. 

In  June,  1855,  the  Legislature  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, by  a large  vote,  passed  a prohibitory  law,  ap- 
plying to  the  sale  only,  not  to  the  manufacture, 
a law  that  was  to  remain  in  force  for  near  half  a 
century.  All  Hew  England  was  now  under  pro- 
hibition. 

9 


130  A Centtjky  of  Deink  Refoem. 


During  this  year  also — 1855 — the  first  Terri- 
I torial  Legislature  of  Nebraska  enacted  a prohib- 
itory law.  Delaware  enacted  a similar  law.  In- 
'diana,  after  a vigorous  State  campaign  the  preced- 
ing year  that  resulted  in  the  election  of  a temper- 
ance Legislature,  likewise  adopts  prohibition. 
Portions  of  the  law  were  declared  unconstitutional 
hy  a majority  decision  of  the  court ; as  to  the  valid- 
ity of  the  entire  law  the  court  was  evenly  divided. 

In  addition  to  these,  Iowa  enacted  a prohib- 
itory law  in  1855,  which  was  made  to  apply  to 
^spirituous  liquors  only,  a law  that  remained  in 
^ force  until  complete  prohibition  in  1884.  In  Wis- 
' consin  prohibition  had  been  declared  for  by  the 
^ people ; enacted  by  the  Legislature,  and  failed  of 
becoming  a law  only  by  the  veto  of  the  governor, 
in  1855.  Michigan,  Ohio,  and  Dlinois  had  abol- 
ished all  license  laws,  the  first  two  making  it  per- 
manent by  embodying  it  in  their  Constitution.  In 
Pennsylvania  a prohibitory  measure  passed  the 
Assembly,  but  was  defeated  by  but  one  vote  in  the 
Senate.  In  Rew  Jersey  a similar  bill  was  lost 
only  by  a tie  vote.  In  addition  to  these  achieve- 
ments, large  portions  of  other  States  were  under 


CuLMINATIOSr : Pkohibitiopt. 


131 


no-license,  tlirougli  the  operation  of  local  option 
laws. 

Such  was  the  sweep  and  momemtum  which  the 
temperance  movement  had  now  attained.  After 
all  these  years  of  labor  and  sacrifice,  in  which  men 
had  felt  every  inch  of  the  way ; had  found,  fought, 
and  won  every  successful  issue,  the  great  reform 
seemed  to  be  nearing  a consummation.  John 
Marsh,  the  corresponding  secretary — and  soul — of 
the  American  Temperance  Union  since  its  organ- 
ization, and  more  closely  in  touch  with  the  entire 
movement  than  any  other  man,  wrote  in  1855 : 
‘^hTot  a State  has  retracted  from  the  high  stand  it 
has  taken;  while  in  other  States  the  leaven  of  re- 
form is  powerfully  working.  Indiana  and  Illinois 
are  ready  for  prohibition.  ISTor  will  Pennsylvania, 
ISlew  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  Texas  be 
slow  to  follow.  The  North  will  give  up,  and  the 
South  keep  not  back;  and  men  in  other  countries 
are  already  hailing  and  welcoming  this  as  one  of 
those  great  moral  revolutions  which  occur,  under 
God,  in  the  course  of  ages,  to  root  out  sin  and  sor- 
row, and  usher  in  millennial  glories.”  A kind  of 
expectancy  prevaded  the  air.  The  priest  grown 


132  A Centtjey  of  Deiis^k  Refoem. 

gray  in  the  temple  service  of  the  reform  was  look- 
ing with  eager  gaze  to  see  with  his  own  eyes,  before 
he  should  go  hence,  the  salvation  of  God. 

At  this  point,  with  the  Presidential  election  of 
1856,  the  temperance  reformation  was  suddenly 
arrested  in  its  progress.  A cloud  the  size  of  a 
man’s  hand  w'as  appearing  upon  the  horizon.  It 
drew  attention  away  from  every  other  object. 

The  anti-slavery  agitation  had  been  contem- 
poraneous from  the  beginning  with  the  movement 
for  temperance  reform.  The  men  active  in  the 
one  had  also,  generally,  been  advocates  of  the  other. 
“"When  there  shall  he  neither  a slave  nor  a drunk- 
ard on  earth” — ^the  language  of  Lincoln — was  the 
vision  which  these  men  saw  in  the  night.  The 
passion  for  freedom  and  righteousness  not  unnatu- 
rally embraced  both  forms  of  this  dual  bondage. 
Conviction  in  the  one  was  not  less  profound,  nor 
the  enthusiasm  less  intense,  than  in  the  other.  The 
principles  of  the  temperance  reformation  had,  in 
fact,  penetrated  more  widely,  and  had  won  a more 
general  recognition  than  those  of  Abolitionism. 
Two  characteristics,  however,  were  peculiar  to  the 
slavery  reform,  which  gave  it  at  once  a seeming 


Culmination’  : Prohibition. 


133 


predominance,  and  bronght  it  at  last  to  a speedy, 
t^iolent  issue.  In  the  first  place,  slavery  was  a 
constitutional  question.  All  agitation  was  focused 
at  the  ISTation’s  Capital,  and  the  question  was  dyed 
as  with  blood  into  the  very  warp  and  fiber  of  our 
national  political  life.  This  accounts  for  its 
greater  publicity,  and  also — in  part  at  least — for 
the  fact  that  the  historian,  while  relating  the  events 
of  this  struggle  with  great  minuteness  of  detail, 
does  not  even  so  much  as  make  mention  of  the 
other.  The  historiographer  is  slow  to  extend  his 
demesne  beyond  the  pageant  of  kings  and  armies 
and  forensic  jousts.  In  the  second  place,  slavery 
was  a sectional  question.  It  was  this  which 
brought  the  speedy  settlement  at  last.  The  Nation 
was  compelled  to  grapple  with  it  for  its  very  life. 

At  first,  for  a number  of  years,  the  two  sections 
of  the  country  were  pretty  evenly  divided  and  bal- 
anced. Then  the  free  States  began  a slow  ascend- 
ency in  population,  wealth,  and  power.  The  cen- 
sus of  1820  revealed  this  growing  disparity,  with 
a considerable  majority  for  the  North  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  The  slave  States  had  looked 
on  with  apprehension,  and  now  began  in  earnest 


134  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

their  struggle  to  maintain  an  equilibrium  in  the 
Senate.  To  this  end  the  South  must  have  more 
slave  States.  Upon  her  success  in  this  the  main- 
tenance of  her  very  life  depended.  Uor  this  pur- 
pose she  looked  to  the  Territories.  This,  together 
with  the  ever-growing  determination  of  the  Xorth 
to  resist  these  agressions,  furnishes  the  key  to  the 
history  of  the  United  States  for  the  next  forty 
years.  The  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820  was  the 
beginning  of  the  open  struggle.  Missouri  as  a 
slave  State  Avas  made  to  offset  Maine,  admitted  at 
the  same  time  as  a free  State.  Shiit  out  from  the 
North  by  this  compromise,  the  slave  States  looked 
to  the  Southwest;  aided  in  wresting  Texas  from 
Mexico  in  1836,  and  by  the  election  of  Polk  in 
1844  secured  its  admission  to  the  Union  as  a slave 
State.  Arkansas  had  in  the  meantime  been  ad- 
mitted to  offset  Michigan  in  1836,  and  in  1845 
Florida  to  offset  Iowa.  To  add  to  the  slave  terri- 
tory, an  effort  had  been  made,  under  Polk,  to  pur- 
chase the  island  of  Cuba  by  an  offer  of  $100,000,- 
000 ; but  failing  in  that,  adventurers  tried  fili- 
bustering, to  capture  and  compel  her  to  come  in. 
California  was  admitted  in  1850  as  a free  State, 
but  only  after  a debate  of  ten  months  and  another 


Culmination  : Prohibition. 


135 


compromise  and  the  enactment  of  the  fugitive  slave 
law. 

The  free  States  now  had  a clear  majority,  and 
if  they  acted  together  might  pass  such  legislation 
as  they  chose,  voting  slavery  out  of  any  Territory. 
To  forestall  this,  the  fatal  Kansas-lSTebraska  Bill 
was  brought  forward  in  1854,  with  its  doctrine 
of  popular  or  squatter  sovereignty.  Congress  has 
no  power  to  vote  slavery,  either  in  or  out  of  the 
Territories,  so  it  was  now  said.  The  people  of  the 
Territories  must  decide  that  for  themselves.  These 
two  Territories  (Kansas  and  Kebraska)  were  to  he 
organized  on  that  basis,  the  plan  being  to  settle 
Kansas  from  the  slave  State  of  Missouri,  then 
settle  Kebraska  from  Kansas,  and  win  both  for 
slavery.  The  passage  of  this  measure  aroused  and 
unified  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  Korth, 
and  raised  up  a new  political  party  committed 
against  the  further  extension  of  slavery.  The  large 
vote,  two  years  later  only,  in  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion of  1856,  for  John  C.  Fremont,  the  candidate 
of  this  party,  came  as  a tremendous  surprise,  espe- 
cially to  the  South.  It  was  an  ill  omen  for  the 
peace  of  the  Union. 


136  A Century  of  Deink  Reform. 


The  heat  of  the  controversy  had  been  intense ; 
the  long  day  was  well  wearing  on;  the  heavens  be- 
came ominous  with  approaching  disaster.  Men 
read  it  Secession — Disunion,  and  read  aright. 
Every  other  thought  was  crowded  out  of  men’s 
minds.  Apprehension  grew  rife,  and  with  ample 
cause,  for  only  too  soon  it  came — ^the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  the  Kansas  struggle.  Harper’s  Ferry,  an- 
other Presidential  election — and  the  first  bolt  rent 
the  house  in  twain : the  heavens  broke  in  a tempest 
of  blood  and  desolation. 


V 


B.  COMPLICATION. 


The  Internal  Revenue  Tax,  July  1,  1862.  Taxation. 


137 


(I.) 

CHAPTER  IV. 


Its  Meaning  eoe  the  Government. 

That  it  would  prove  no  holiday  affair  to  sup- 
press the  uprising  of  the  South  soon  became  evi- 
dent. The  Ration  was  thrust  into  the  awful  throes 
of  a life-and-death  struggle.  With  the  call  to 
arms  came  also  the  call  for  the  sinews  of  war.  The 
Ration  must  have  money,  and  more  money. 

After  the  inadequate  revenue  measure  passed 
the  year  before,  the  Internal  Revenue  Act,  creat- 
ing a Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue,  was  passed  and 
approved  July  1,  1862.  It  has  been  the  policy  of 
our  Government  to  resort  to  an  excise  tax  only  as 
an  expedient  in  circumstances  of  extreme  urgency. 
Only  twice  before  had  such  direct  internal  tax 
been  laid — the  first  time  just  after  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  removed  again  under  Jef- 
ferson in  1802;  the  other  time  during  the  War  of 
1812,  and  removed  soon  after  its  close,  upon  recom- 
mendation by  President  Monroe,  in  1817.  But 
139 


14:0  A Centuey  oe  Deink  Eefoem. 

these  measures  were  as  nothing  compared  with 
that  of  1862.  By  this  law,  which  went  into  effect 
September  1st  of  that  year,  nearly  every  visible 
thing  or  transaction  was  made  to  yield  revenue. 
Among  these  were  tobacco  and  liquors.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  tax  upon  liquor,  there  was  a special 
license  tax  upon  liquor  dealers  of  all  kinds — ^brew- 
ers, distillers,  rectifiers ; wholesalers  and  retailers 
of  spirituous,  malt,  and  vinous  liquors  (except 
domestic  wines  free). 

A tax  of  tAventy  cents  a gallon  was  laid  on  spir- 
its, which  was  raised  to  tAvo  dollars  by  the  close  of 
1864:,  and  reduced  again  gradually,  and  fixed  at 
ninety  cents  a gallon  in  1875.  Here  it  remained 
until  the  Spanish-American  War,  since  which  time 
it  has  been  $1.10  a gallon.  Malt  liquors,  under 
the  Internal  Revenue  Act,  were  taxed  one  dollar 
a barrel.  This  was  reduced  temporarily  to  sixty 
cents  in  1863,  but  was  restored  the  next  year,  and 
fixed  at  one  dollar.  In  addition  to  this,  there  was 
the  special  license  tax  upon  the  liquor-maker  and 
liquor-dealer  himself,  varying  in  amount  from 
twenty  to  two  hundred  dollars  a year,  according 
to  the  amount  and  kind  of  business  done.  This 


Its  Meaning  for  the  Government.  Ill 


act,  by  laying  a heavy  tax  upon  the  liquor  industry 
and  requiring  a license  fee  from  its  chief  pro- 
moters, was  to  add  greatly,  in  a quite  unforseen 
way,  to  the  complexity  and  persistency  of  the  drink 
question.  The  ISTation  gave  to  the  drink  business — 
a business  all  but  outlawed  when  the  war  began — 
official  recognition  and  sanction,  and  entered  into  a 
peculiarly  close  relationship  with  it. 

And  yet  the  evil  consequences  likely  to  flow 
from  this  act  were  not  wholly  unforeseen,  and  this 
portion  of  the  bill  was  not  allowed  to  pass  without 
a vigorous  protest.  Senator  Henry  Wilson,  of 
Massachusetts,  later  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  who  but  a few  months  before  had  intro- 
duced the  bill  emancipating  the  slaves  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  in  moving  to  strike  out  the  par- 
ticular clause  licensing  the  liquor  business,  said: 
‘‘My  reason  for  making  this  motion  is  that  I do 
not  think  any  man  in  this  country  should  have  a \ 
license  from  the  Federal  Government  to  sell  intoxi-  j 
eating  liquors.  I look  upon  the  liquor-trade  as 
gTOSsly  immoral,  causing  more  evil  than  anything 
else  in  this  country,  and  I think  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment ought  not  to  derive  a revenue  from  the 


142  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem, 

retail  of  intoxicating  drinks.  I think  if  this  sec- 
tion remains  in  the  bill  it  will  have  a most  demoral- 
izing influence  upon  the  country,  for  it  will  lift 
into  a kind  of  respectability  the  retail  trade  in 
liquors.  The  man  who  has  paid  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment twenty  dollars  for  a license  to  retail  ardent 
spirits  will  feel  that  he  is  acting  under  the  author- 
ity of  the  Federal  Government,  and  any  regula- 
tion, State  or  municipal,  interfering  with  him,  are 
mere  temporary  and  local  arrangements  that 
should  yield  to  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. . . . Every  senator  knows  that  this 

ITation  has  been  and  is  being  demoralized  by  the 
rum  traffic.  Every  man  knows  that  our  army  of 
flve  or  six  hundred  thousand  in  the  fleld  has  been 
greatly  demoralized  by  the  sale  and  use  of  rum. 
. . . Since  this  war  opened  we  have  lost  thou- 

sands of  lives  by  rum.  Sir,  with  this  Nation  suf- 
fering as  it  is  suffering  by  the  sale  of  ardent  spir- 
its, the  Congress  of  the  United  States  proposes  to 
give  its  sanction  to  the  traffic.  I would  as  soon 
give  my  sanction  to  the  traffic  of  the  slave-trade 
as  I would  to  the  sale  of  liquors.  ...  I tell 
you,  sir,  there  is  not  a rumseller  or  a friend  of  the 


Its  Meaning  for  the  Government.  143 

rumseller  on  this  continent  that  will  not  welcome 
this  tax.  Why,  sir,  it  has  been  the  struggle  of  the 
retailers  of  rum  all  over  this  country  for  a quarter 
of  a century  to  adopt  the  license  system  and  to  get 
licensed.  They  have  contended  for  it;  they  have 
fought  for  it;  they  have  carried  it  to  the  polls; 
they  have  carried  it  into  your  legislative  assem- 
blies ; they  have  carried  it  everywhere ; and  now 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  proposes  to  es- 
tablish the  system  rejected  by  many  of  the  States 
as  sanctioning  crime,  and  to  grant  it  to  them.” 

Senator  Samuel  C.  Pomeroy,  of  Kansas,  dur- 
ing the  second  day’s  debate  on  this  particular 
clause,  registered  an  equally  strong  protest.  “Sir, 
I know  that  the  friends  of  temperance  throughout 
the  country  have  everywhere  labored  against  the 
license  system.  Ten  years  ago  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts  (Mr.  Wilson)  and  I were  members 
of  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  and  every  rum- 
seller  of  Boston  clamored  for  a license.  That  was 
their  religion,  their  god.  If  they  could  get  a li- 
cense it  was  all  they  wanted.  They  deprecated 
nothing  so  much  as  being  deprived  of  a license. 
Why  ? A license  gives  a kind  of  sanction  to  the 


144  A Centuky  of  Dbustk  Refoem. 


business,  makes  the  traffic,  which  in  that  commu- 
nity as  in  almost  every  other  is  disreputable, 
popular.” 

1.  A tax,  or  specifically  the  Internal  Revenue 
X on  liquor,  means,  first,  permission. 


To  receive  money  from  individuals  or  a class 


/does  not  always  or  necessarily,  of  course,  imply  an 
/ indorsement  of  their  craft  or  profession.  The 
Government  levies  a sum  of  money  upon  that  class 
of  persons,  for  instance,  known  as  the  highway- 
man, the  counterfeiter,  the  embezzler,  the  bribe- 
giver, the  wife-beater,  the  incendiary.  It  puts 
this  money  into  its  pocket  without  compunction. 
But  it  calls  this  levy  a fine,  not  a tax.  It  exacts 
it  as  a penalty,  not  as  the  price  of  a privilege. 
It  is  not  license  (permission),  but  punishment. 
The  levy  is  not  made  as  light  as  possible,  and  col- 
lected at  regular  stated  times  and  receipted  for; 
but  as  heavy  as  possible,  and  whenever  and  as  often 
as  such  person  can  be  caught  in  his  peculiar  occu- 
pation and  convicted.  The  aim  is  not  to  raise  reve- 
nue, but  to  discourage  and  suppress  such  business 
as  subversive  of  morals  and  of  good  goveiiiment. 

^Entirely  different  is  it  when  a Government 


Its  MEAsriira  fok  the  Goveknmeht.  145 


raises  money,  in  tlie  form  of  taxes  and  license  fees, 
for  its  legitimate  and  necessary  expenditures.  It 
Iderives  this  support 'from  the  legitimate  industries 
I of  the  people.  Its  aim  and  interest  are  not  to  sup- 
press, hut  to  promote.  The  tax  is  not  made  more 
burdensome  than  the  particular  industry  can  well 
bear,  and  is  fixed  both  as  regards  time  of  payment 
and  the  amount.  And  when  such  tax  is  regularly 
paid  each  trade  will  enjoy  immunity  from  inter- 
ference or  restriction.  It  is  to  the  interest  of  the 
Government  that  it  should  prosper.  In  an  address 
at  Columbus,  in  1882,  John  Sherman  pointed  out 
the  practical  identity  of  a tax  and  a license — Ohio 
having  since  1851  constitutionally  soothed  her  con- 
science by  ^Taxing”  the  liquor,  business,  but  not  ^‘li- 
censing’’ it.  “A  tax  on  a trade  or  occupation  im- 
plies a permission  to  follow  that  trade  or  occupa- 
tion. We  do  not  tax  a crime.  We  prohibit  and  pun- 
ish it.  We  do  not  share  in  the  profits  of  a larceny; 
but  by  a tax  we  do  share  in  the  profits  of  liquor- 
selling, and  therefore  allow  or  license  it.” 

2.  A tax  implies,  secondly,  protection. 

When  a trade  or  business  is  taxed  for  the  sup- 
fport  of  the  Government,  it  follows  that  such  trade 


10 


146  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

is  entitled  to  tlie  benefits  of  government,  one  of 
whose  very  first  functions  is  that  of  protection. 
In  levying  and  receiving  a tax  the  Government 
makes  a pledge  of  service.  The  former  as  a right 
is  inseparably  linked  with  the  latter  as  a duty. 
That  Government  which,  after  collecting  taxes 
from  one  class  of  its  citizens,  would  refuse  to  give 
them  the  fullest  protection  in  their  business,  would 
be  as  deficient  in  morals  as  a tyrant  who  makes  no 
pretense  of  being  bound  by  considerations  of  right, 
or  a villain  who  goes  squarely  hack  on  his  assured 
promises  and  decamps  as  soon  as  the  money  is  in 
his  possession.  Every  taxed  or  properly  taxable 
business  or  enterprise,  the  Government  must,  by 
every  principle  of  justice  and  in  very  self-consist- 
ency, extend  to  it  protection  from  molestation  and 
guard  it  in  its  right  to  exist  and  prosper. 

With  respect  to  the  liquor-trade  the  Enited 
States  Government  has  not  been  consistently  true 
to  this  principle.  "When  it  collects  a tax  from  the 
liquor-seller  it  protects  him  from  molestation  only 
so  far  as  its  ovm  punitive  machinery  is  -concerned. 
Beyond  this  it  leaves  him  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
local  caprice  and  the  vengeance  of  the  State.  Thus 


Its  Meastistg  eok  the  Government.  147 

when  a man  engages  (with  proper  precaution)  in 
the  sale  of  liquor  in  a prohibition  State  or  a no- 
license town,  while  he  will  suffer  no  interference 
from  the  Government,  if  he  has  paid  the  Federal 
tax  and  holds  a Federal  permit,  neither  has  he  any 
redress  at  the  hands  of  the  Government  if  the  local 
authorities  pounce  upon  him,  confiscate  his  stock 
of  liquors  and  cast  him  into  prison. 

We  have  this  anomalous  condition,  then,  that  a 
constable  or  village  official  may  destroy  one  of  the 
legitimate,  taxable  industries  of  a community,  an 
industry  upon  which  the  Nation  depends  largely 
for  its  revenue ; and  may  throw  a man  into  prison 
for  engaging  in  a business  which  the  Government 
said  was  a proper  business  and  one  he  might  engage 
in.  There  is  a fault  somewhere  in  the  logic  of  this 
policy.  It  is  not  so  known  elsewhere.  In  the  di- 
vision of  governmental  functions  between  Federal, 
State,  county,  township,  municipal,  and  village 
authority  in  all  other  things  there  is  no  such  con- 
flict of  power  or  jurisdiction.  Each  is  supreme 
in  its  sphere.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  Government 
should  do  one  of  two  things:  (1)  If  it  claims  the 
right  to  tax  the  liquor-traffic  it  should  exercise 


148  A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

toward  that  traffic  the  power  of  complete  protec- 
tion, denying  to  the  States  the  right  to  vex  or  pro- 
hibit; or  (2),  If  the  Government  yields  to  the 
States  the  exclusive  right  to  regulate  the  liquor- 
traffic,  it  should  keep  its  ovm  hands  oS,  and  with- 
draw from  the  business  the  prestige  and  support 
of  Federal  sanction.  But  who  is  sufficient  for 
these  things  ? 

However,  the  principle  of  protection,  though 
somewhat  confused  in  its  application,  is  still  true 
even  here;  for  let  the  liquor-seller  pay  his  Federal 
tax  and  hang  up  his  Federal  permit,  and  pay  his 
State  or  local  license  fee  and  frame  and  hang  up 
his  “Licensed  to  sell,”  and  no  power  on  earth  dare 
molest  him.  Though  a man’s  brain  be  set  on  fire 
by  the  liquor  he  sells,  and  he  in  turn  go  home  and 
fire  his  house,  or  his  neighbor’s,  or  kill  his  friend 
in  a brawl,  or  his  wife  or  children,  though  the  cause 
may  be  clearly  traced  to  the  liquor  that  he  drank, 
yet  the  man  who  gave  him  that  liquor  not  only 
escapes  punishment,  but  is  protected  in  his  right 
to  sell  more.  If  any  crank  or  zealot  should  enter 
that  saloon  to  smash,  because  it  is  a source  of  evil 
and  crime,  he  would  receive  but  short  shrift. 


Its  Meaning  foe  the  Goveknment.  149 

Because,  therefore,  the  liquor-trade  pays  spe- 
cial revenue  and  license  taxes  to  the  State  and 
Nation,  it  receives  their  protection  to  carry  on  this 
trade:  which  is  just  and  right. 

3,  A tax,  or  specifically  the  Internal  Revenue 
tax  on  liquor,  involves,  thirdly,  partnership. 

To  give  sanction  and  protection  to  any  busi- 
ness, and  to  share  proportionally  in  its  profits,  is 
to  become,  in  a sense,  a party  to  that  business. 
Above  any  other  industry  in  the  land  is  this  true 
of  the  liquor-trade,  with  reference  both  to  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  Nation  shares  in  the  profits  of 
this  trade,  and  the  peculiarly  elaborate  and  pains- 
taking methods  which  the  Nation  employs  to  as- 
certain and  collect  its  share  of  these  profits.  Tak- 
ing these  in  turn : 

(1)  Extent. — For  the  year — or  rather  ten 
months — ending  June  30,  1863,  the  first  year  the 
Internal  Revenue  law  was  in  effect,  the  Govern- 
ment received  from  the  liquor-trade  seven  million 
dollars  out  of  a total  internal  revenue  that  year 
of  forty-one  millions  from  all  sources,  or  about 
17  per  cent.  That  percentage  was  at  once  in- 
creased by  the  increase  in  the  tax  on  spirits.  When 


150  A Ceisttuey  of  Delnk  Hefoem. 

tlie  war  was  over  the  other  industries  were  one  by 
one  relieved  of  their  special  taxes,  except  only  the 
liquor  industry  (and  tobacco),  in  whose  profits 
the  Government  shared  in  ever-increasing  propor- 
tion. Thus  during  the  decade  of  the  seventies 
50  per  cent  on  the  average  of  all  internal  revenue 
was  derived  from  the  liquor-trade.  In  the  next 
decade  it  rose  to  70  per  cent  on  an  annual  average; 
while  during  the  year  ending  June  30,  1897,  the 
last  year  before  the  special  Spanish  IVar  tax  went 
into  effect,  7 8 per  cent  of  all  internal  revenue  taxes 
laid  by  our  Government  came  from  the  traffic  in 
strong  drink.  Or  taking  the  entire  receipts  of  the 
United  States  Government,  from  all  sources,  for 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1900,  for  instance,  in- 
cluding the  Internal  Revenue  tax  ($295,327,027), 
customs  revenue  on  imports  ($233,164,871), 
postal  service  ($102,354,579),  and  all  miscellane- 
ous items,  such  as  profits  on  coinage,  bullion  de^ 
posits  and  assays,  consular  and  patent  fees,  sale  oi 
public  and  Indian  lands,  tax  on  national  banks,  etc. 
($38,748,054),  the  total  receipts  aggregated  $669,- 
595,431,  of  which  sum  $185,183,657  (Intemal 
Revenue  tax  on  liquors,  $177,137,992 ; duties  on 


Its  Meaning  fok  the  Government.  151 

wines  and  liquors  imported,  $8,045,655),  or  27.6 
per  cent  was  received  from  the  trade  in  strong 
drink. 

Thus  for  a Government  to  share  so  largely  in 
the  profits  of  the  liquor-trade  as  to  derive  more 
than  one-fourth  of  its  entire  income  from  that 
source,  means  that  it  stands  in  closer  relationship 
with  this  particular  one,  than  with  any  other  of 
its  industries. 

(2)  Method.  — The  Government  shows  an 
eagerness  to  secure  its  share  of  the  profits  of  the 
liquor-trade  unknown  in  the  case  of  any  other  busi- 
ness or  industry. 

The  entire  Internal  Revenue  Department  has 
for  years  had  scarcely  anything  to  do  other  than 
to  watch  the  ledger  of  the  liquor  business.  The 
commissioner  of  internal  revenue  at  Washington, 
receiving  a salary  equal  to  that  of  the  treasurer 
of  the  United  States ; the  chief  clerk,  deputy  com- 
missioner, solicitor;  the  more  than  threescore  col- 
lectors assigned  to  the  different  districts  in  the 
Union ; the  nearly  one  thousand  deputy  collectors ; 
clerks,  surveyors,  gaugers,  and  storekeepers  as- 
signed to  the  distilleries  in  the  different  localities — ■ 


152  A Cektuey  of  Dkink  Eefoem. 

all  are  kept  busy  looking  after  the  trade,  now  in- 
specting plans  and  buildings,  now  measuring  and 
gauging  tbe  liquor  in  vats,  now  tending  the  ware- 
house (“keeping  store”)  and  waiting  on  the  pro- 
prietor when  he  wants  his  goods,  now — and 
chiefly — going  over  accounts  and  figuring  profits. 

Each  brewer  and  distiller  must  make  a monthly 
report.  Books  must  be  kept  open  for  inspection 
by  the  Gevernment  agent.  Every  manufacturer 
of  stills  must  give  notice  of  each  still  made,  and 
the  name  of  the  person  who  is  to  use  it.  If  a dis- 
tillery is  to  be  built  a minute  plan  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  commissioner  and  collector,  who  may 
make  any  change  they  see  fit.  The  Government 
agent  has  the  keys  to  the  distillery,  and  may  enter 
any  time  of  the  day  or  night.  The  receiving  cis- 
tern is  under  his  lock  and  key,  and  by  his  per- 
mission alone  can  spirits  be  withdrawn.  When 
the  products  of  the  distillery  have  been  placed  in 
the  warehouse  in  bond,  the  Government  furnishes 
a storekeeper;  and  when  the  liquor  is  withdrawn, 
to  enter  upon  its  mission  in  society,  this  store- 
keeper is  on  hand  to  collect  the  iSTation’s  share  on 
each  gallon  and  barrel,  and  to  paste  on  each  cask 


Its  Meaning  eoe  the  Government,  153 


and  flask,  as  it  goes  out,  the  Federal  trade-mark, 
the  sovereign  people’s  ‘‘0.  K.”  This  is  not  meant 
as  a guarantee  that  the  stuff  is  good  for  man  to 
drink,  but  means  simply  that  the  tax  has  been  paid, 
and  therefore  it  may  flow  immolested. 

The  liquor  interests  have  not  failed  to  make  use 
of  this  intimacy  of  the  United  States  Government 
with  their  business.  In  a full-page  advertisement 
of  a certain  brand  of  whisky  recently  in  several  of 
the  foremost  publications  of  the  country  we  have 
this  assuring  announcement  in  large  headlines, 
“Uncle  Sam  says  it ’s  all  right.”  After  which 
follows  this  information : “Uncle  Sam,  in  the  per- 
son of  Ten  of  his  Government  Officials,  has  charge 
of  every  department  of  our  distillery.  During  the 
entire  process  of  distillation,  after  the  whisky  is 
stored  in  barrels  in  our  warehouses,  during  the 
seven  years  it  remains  there,  from  the  very  gTain 
we  buy  to  the  whisky  you  get.  Uncle  Sam  is  con- 
stantly on  the  watch  to  see  that  everything  is  all 
right.”  The  zeal  of  our  great  Government  is  faith- 
fully depicted  here.  It  must  not  he  supposed,  how- 
ever, that  the  object  of  this  zeal  is  the  well-being 
of  the  public.  Uncle  Sam  is  not  after  purity  and 


154  A Centtjey  of  Drink:  Kefoem. 

peace  and  good  citizenship,  but  after  money.  It 
is  when  he  receives  this  that  he  finds  his  voice  and 
says,  “It ’s  all  right.” 

This  trade,  therefore,  that  filches  millions  each 
year  from  the  pockets  of  the  people,  and  gives  them 
nothing  in  return — no  bread  for  either  body  or 
soul,  no  clothes,  no  comforts;  hut  instead,  conten- 
tion and  sorrow,  want  and  woe — our  Government 
has  become  a jealous  partner  in  this  business,  and 
has  given  to  it  the  influence  of  its  great  name,  be- 
cause the  business  is  willing  generously  to  share 
with  it  its  easily  and  ill-gotten  gain. 

4.  A tax,  or  specifically  the  Internal  Revenue 
tax  on  liquor,  involves,  lastly,  promotion. 

The  sphere  of  government  is  not  merely  the 
passive  function  of  collecting  revenue  and  shield- 
ing its  citizens  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights — 
taxation  and  protection.  It  must  assist  in  promot- 
ing the  welfare  of  its  people  by  stimulating  their 
industries,  facilitating  their  commerce,  and  extend- 
ing their  markets.  This  is  what  any  good  govern- 
ment constantly  aims  to  do.  By  patents,  for  in- 
stance, it  seeks  to  encourage  invention;  by  copy- 
rights, to  stimulate  literature  and  art;  through  its 


Its  Meaning  foe  the  Goveenment,  155 

consular  service,  to  learn  the  condition  and  needs 
of  the  foreign  market,  with  a view  to  facilitating 
export  trade  and  the  expansion  of  its  own  in- 
dustries. 

This  is  the  one  thing  a government  has  con- 
stantly in  mind  when  it  levies  its  taxes.  It  is  this 
which  makes  the  question  of  taxation,  seemingly 
simple,  so  intricate  and  difficult  a problem.  The 
Government  needs  money.  It  levies  a tax  rate 
upon  the  country’s  wealth-producing  industries. 
But  how  and  where  shall  the  tax  be  laid  ? Shall 
it  be  a direct  tax  upon  persons,  or  incomes,  or  cap- 
ital, or  land  ? Or  an  indirect  tax  upon  articles 
of  consumption  ? Shall  the  tax  be  laid  upon  the 
necessaries  of  life,  or  upon  its  luxuries  ? Shall 
each  pay  according  to  the  benefits  he  enjoys  from 
the  Government,  or  according  to  his  ability  to 
pay  ? Shall  equality  of  taxation  mean  equality  of 
sacrifice,  or  equality  in  the  amount  actually  paid  ? 

The  statesman  who  sets  himself  to  work  out  a 
tax  budget  for  his  people  will  find  these  questions 
anything  but  trifling.  Let  him  have  a care  lest 
in  taxing  thrift  and  enterprise  and  economy,  a 
premium  be  put  upon  idleness  and  improvidence ; 


156  A Centuey  of  Djeink  Refoem. 

or  in  taxing  necessities,  the  burden  be  put  upon 
those  who  consume  most  and  are  least  able  to  pay ; 
or  in  taxing  forms  of  wealth  easily  concealed,  those 
inclined  to  be  dishonest  make  false  returns  and 
escape  their  just  proportion  of  taxes,  while  those 
who  are  truthful  pay  more  than  their  share.  And 
above  all,  there  must  be  no  discrimination,  as  in 
the  tariff  rates  or  special  privileges,  in  favor  of 
any  one  industry  as  against  another.  The  reason 
for  the  frequent  change  of  financial  policy  in  the 
United  States  is  that  the  people  have  believed  these 
very  inequalities  and  discriminations  to  exist. 
The  pledged  purpose  of  our  Government  is  to  “pro- 
mote the  general  welfare,”  which  is  to  be  accom- 
plished by  promoting  impartially  all  its  legitimate 
individual  industries. 

The  one  industry  that  concerns  us  here  is  the 
drink  trade.  In  taxing  this  trade,  has  our  Hation 
been  true  to  this  principle  of  just  government,  or 
has  the  drink  trade  suffered  retrogression  because 
of  unjustly  high  taxes  and  harsh  restrictions  ? 
^'\^latever  our  Government  may  or  may  not  have 
done,  it  has  compiled  statistics  which  show  that 
the  liquor  industry,  from  the  time  the  Internal 


Its  MEAmsrG  fob  the  Govekhment.  157 

Revenue  tax  went  into  effect,  lias  enjoyed  contin- 
uous and  increasing  prosperity  in  every  respect — 
(a),  as  to  the  amount  of  capital  invested;  (b),  as 
to  the  quantity  of  liquor  produced;  (c),  as  to  the 
value  of  the  product. 


(a) 

CAPITAL  INVESTED  IN  THE  MANUFACTUKE  OF  LIQUOK 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


( From  the  United  States  census  bulletin. ) 


CENSUS 

SPIRITS 

MALT  lilQUORS 

WINES 

1850 

$5,409,334 

$4,072,380 

$ 

1860 

12,445,675 

15,782,342 

306,300 

1870 

15,545,116 

48,779,435 

2,334,394 

1880 

24,247,595 

91,208,224 

2,581,910 

1890 

31,006,178 

232,471,290 

5,792,783 

1900 

32,551,604 

415,284,468 

9,838,015 

(b) 


PKODTTCTION  OF  LIQUOB  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SINCE 
THE  INTEENAL  REVENUE  ACT. 


(Average  annual,  by  decades.) 


YEAR  BNDINO 
JUNE  30 

1863-1870 

1870-1880 

1880-1890 

1890-1900 


SPIRITS 

37.000. 000 

60.000. 000 

75.000. 000 

83.000. 000 


GALLONS 

MALT  LIQUORS 

152.000. 000 

308.000. 000 

646.000. 000 

1,079,000,000 


The  figures  here  given  are  not  for  the  separate 
years  of  the  census,  as  in  the  preceding  schedule, 


158  A Century  of  Drink  Eeform. 

but  represent  an  average  annual  for  tbe  ten  years 
of  each  decade.  The  production  of  spirits  fluctuates 
so  greatly  from  year  to  year  that  the  flgures  for 
any  one  year  would  not  give  a correct  idea  of  the 
real  ratio  of  increase.  In  the  production  of  malt 
liquors,  however,  there  has  been  no  such  fluctua- 
tion, the  growth  of  that  industry  having  been  regu- 
lar, and,  as  may  be  observed,  rapid.  Both  as  re- 
gards the  amoimt  of  capital  invested,  and  the 
product  put  out,  this  latter  industry  has  about 
doubled  itself  every  ten  years.  Again,  the  statis- 
tics in  the  United  States  reports  for  any  one  year 
represent  in  reality  neither  the  production  of  liq- 
uors for  that  year,  nor  the  consumption,  but  the 
quantity  that  has  been  withdrawn  from  ware- 
houses, under  goverimient  supervision,  for  pur- 
poses of  consumption,  and  upon  which  the  tax 
has  been  paid.  Yet  in  the  long  run  the  quantity 
produced  each  year  will  about  equal  the  quantity 
consumed ; so  that  the  average  annual  flgures  for  a 
period  of  ten  years,  as  given  in  the  schedule,  will 
represent,  with  a fair  degree  of  accuracy,  the  con- 
sumption of  liquor  for  that  year. 

Wines  are  not  included  in  this  echedule.  The 


Its  Meaning  eob  the  Govebnment.  159 


wine  industry  does  not  figure  prominently  in  gov- 
ernment reports;  is  not  usually  given  at  all.  It 
pays  no  tax,  except  a customs  duty  upon  wines 
imported. 

Taking  now  tlie  average  annual  consumption 
per  capita  for  our  entire  population,  of  all  kinds 
of  liquor,  during  the  last  three  decades,  we  have 
these  figures: 


AVKKAGB 

GALLONS 

ANNUAL 

WINES 

. SPIRITS 

MALT  LIQUORS 

1870-1880 

.55 

1.40 

6.91 

1880-1890 

.48 

1.34 

11.19 

1890-1900 

.38 

1.25 

15.47 

Whatever 

else 

these  figures 

may 

show,  they 

demonstrate 

that 

taxation  has 

not 

affected  the 

liquor  industry  adversely.  The  slight  decrease  in 
the  per  capita  consumption  of  spirits  can  not  be 
justly  laid  to  taxation,  for  malt  liquors  are  heavily 
taxed,  and  they  have  more  than  doubled  on  our 
rapidly  increasing  population ; while  wines,  which 
are  not  taxed  at  all,  show  a larger  percentage  of 
decrease  than  spirits.  The  causes  for  this  must 
be  looked  for  elsewhere. 


160  A Centukt  of  DEmK  Refoem. 


(c) 

VALUE  OF  THE  LIQUOE  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES. 

(From  the  U.  S.  Census  Bulletin.) 


CENSUS 

SPIRITS 

MALT  LIQUORS 

WINES 

1850 

$15,770,240 

$5,728,568 

1860 

30,936,585 

21,310,933 

$400,791 

1870 

36,191,133 

55,706,643 

2,225,238 

1880 

41,063,663 

101,058,385 

2,169,193 

1890 

104,197,869 

182,731,622 

2,846,148 

1900 

96,798,443 

237,269,713 

6,547,310 

But 

all  this  is  as 

yet  only  negative  proof  of 

our  proposition  that  a tax,  or  specifically,  the  in- 
ternal revenue  tax  on  liquor,  involves  promotion. 
These  statistics  show  merely  that  under  the  policy 
of  taxation  the  liquor  business  has  been  promoted. 
That  this  has  been  done  primarily  by  those  en- 
gaged in  the  trade,  whose  financial  interests  are 
bound  up  with  that  trade,  is,  of  course,  to  be  as- 
sumed. But  we  want  to  know  what  hand,  if  any, 
the  Federal  Government  has  also  had  in  it. 

That  the  Government  should  have  had  a part 
in  facilitating  and  fostering  the  growth  of  the 
liquor  trade  is  what  we  would  expect,  to  begin 
with.  This  not  in  a general  way  merely  (the  liquor 
trade  being  one  of  the  nation’s  legitimate  indus- 


Its  Meaning  fok  the  Government.  161 


tries),  but  in  a special  way  and  for  a special  rea- 
son, for  has  not  tbe  Government  a special  financial 
interest  in  this  particular  branch,  of  its  industries  ? 
Does  not  more  than  one-fourth  of  its  entire  sup- 
port come  out  of  it  ? The  feathered  creature  that 
can  lay  such  golden  eggs,  and  lay  them  regularly, 
and  without  pain,  apparently,  deserves  some  spe- 
cial care.  ISTo  other  legitimate  industry  in  the 
country  can  yield  such  revenue  and  prosper.  And 
to  find  a good  and  legitimate  trade  that  can  do  this 
— and  we  must  believe  that  the  trade  in  strong 
drink  is  a good  business,  or  the  Government  would 
not  get  its  living  off  it — wise  statesmanship  will 
see  to  it  that  special  care  be  given  to  promote  it. 

And  this  has  been  done.  It  is  only  the  policy 
of  taxation  consistently  carried  out.  Its  logic  can 
not  be  questioned,  therefore. 

The  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue  is  the  point 
of  contact  between  the  nation  and  the  liquor  trade. 
Through  this  bureau  repeated  expressions  of 
friendship  and  solicitude  have  been  conveyed  to 
the  trade.  Through  this  bureau  the  Government 
has  been  officially  represented  at  a number  of  the 
gatherings  of  liquor  men.  At  the  fifth  United 
11 


162  A Centuey  of  Deik^k;  Refoem. 

States  Brewers’  Congi-ess,  held  in  Baltimore,  in 
1865,  Internal  Revenue  Commissioner  Wells  was 
present  and  said : “It  is  the  desire  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  be  thoroughly  informed  of  the  require- 
ments of  the  trade,  and  I will  give  information  on 
all  questions,  in  order  to  bring  about  a cordial  un- 
derstanding between  the  Government  and  the 
trade.”  Subsequent  events  show  that  such  cordial 
understanding  has  been  both  brought  about  and 
maintained  during  these  many  years. 

At  the  eleventh  Brewers’  Congress,  held  in 
Pittsburg,  in  1871,  the  president  of  that  body  said 
that  he  hailed  it  as  an  encouraging  sign  that  the 
Govei’nment  v^as  being  represented  at  their  meet- 
ings. Mr.  Louis  Schade,  of  the  Internal  Revenue 
Bureau,  was  present  to  address  the  convention 
and  to  report  their  proceedings.  At  the  Brewers’ 
Congress  the  next  year,  in  Xew  York,  the  Internal 
Revenue  Bureau  had  two  representatives  present, 
who  assured  the  convention  that  “the  brewing  in- 
dustry is  receiving  attention  in  the  office  of  Inter- 
nal Revenue  that  it  has  never  received  before.” 
Two  representatives  were  likewise  present  at 
Cleveland,  in  1873.  When  the  Brewers’  Congress 


Its  Meaning  fok  the  Goveenment.  163 

met  in  Milwaukee,  in  1877,  the  commissioner  of 
internal  revenue  stated  the  situation  exactly  when 
he  wrote  to  the  convention:  “I  am  glad  to  learn 
that  the  conduct  of  this  bureau  has  been  satisfac- 
tory to  such  an  important  body  of  tax-payers  as 
the  brewers  of  the  United  States,  and  I trust  that 
nothing  will  occur  to  disturb  the  friendly  relations 
now  existing  between  this  office  and  your  associa- 
tion.” The  next  year,  in  Baltimore,  the  same  com- 
missioner was  present  in  person.  At  the  Brewers’ 
Congress  in  Washington,  in  1890,  the  head  of  the 
Internal  Revenue  Bureau  was  again  present.  “Our 
business  relations  for  the  last  year,”  he  said  in  ad- 
dressing the  convention,  “have  been  quite  exten- 
sive, and  I may  say — speaking  for  the  officers  of 
I the  Commission  of  Internal  Revenue — that  they 
I have  been  of  a pleasant  character.  In  order  that 
they  may  continue  so,  and  that  the  pleasant  fea- 
ture of  the  connection  may  as  far  as  possible  be 
increased,  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  commis- 
sioner should  know  you  all  personally,  and  that, 
personally,  he  should  know  your  wishes. 

You  are  all  business  men  engaged  in  a lawful  busi- 
ness, and  entitled  to  pursue  that  business  untram- 


164  A Centtjey  of  DEiifK  Refoem. 

meled  by  any  regulation  of  tbe  ofl&ce  of  the  com- 
missioner of  internal  revenue,  except  in  so  far 
as  may  be  necessary  for  tbe  purpose  of  collecting 
the  revenue.” 

To  the  principle  expressed  in  this  address  the 
Government  has  been  consistently  true.  It  im- 
poses no  regulations  whatever  upon  the  liquor 
business  except  as  they  relate  to  the  “collecting  of 
the  revenue.”  In  no  prohibition  State  or  no-license 
town,  where  people  have  said  that  they  did  not 
want  the  business,  does  the  Government  lend  its 
influence  to  suppress  it.  In  fact,  the  Government 
encourages  the  business. 

In  some  remote  town,  for  instance,  the  fathers 
and  mothers  have  detennined  that  their  sons  and 
daughters  shall  be  brought  up  free  from  the  in- 
fluence of  the  saloon ; that  the  community  shall  be 
peaceable  and  orderly,  and  a good  place  to  live  in. 
After  a hard  struggle  and  much  sacriflce  they  have 
carried  the  day,  and  liquor-selling  in  that  place 
must  now  cease.  The  community  is  bent  on  exer- 
cising in  this  particular  its  full  privilege  of  home 
rule. 

The  officials  proceed  to  carry  out  the  wish  of 


Its  Meaning  toe  the  Goveenment.  165 


the  people,  and  enforce  the  law.  They  are  suc- 
ceeding— or  seem  to  be — reasonably  well.  Some 
saloons  have  bowed  to  the  inevitable  and  closed  en- 
tirely; others  have  taken  to  the  dark.  The  saloon 
business  is  severely  crippled  and  would  die,  if  only 
the  strong  arm  of  federal  law  would  but  come  to 
the  assistance  at  this  point  and  administer  the 
stroke  of  mercy.  Will  the  Government  do  it  ? The 
liquor  business  is  in  sore  straits.  It  is  outlawed, 
and  has  no  standing  in  the  community.  The  fed- 
eral permit,  too,  has  run  out  now.  Will  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  the  only  remaining  partner  in 
the  business,  now  help  to  enforce  the  law  to  the 
extent  at  least  of  withholding  from  the  outlawed 
business  a renewal  of  its  permit  ? Alas  ! our  great 
and  good  Government,  since  the  days  of  the  tax- 
ing, has  lost  the  power  of  moral  discernment  as 
touching  the  things  that  pertain  to  the  drink  traf- 
fic. It  can  scarcely  discern  between  its  right  hand 
and  its  left.  It  mutters  but  one  word — Revenue. 

The  saloon-keeper  is  aware  of  this  fact,  in  this 
particular  village.  He  is  afraid  of  the  local  au- 
thorities, but  he  is  more  afraid  of  the  United  States 
authorities,  to  sell  without  their  sanction,  for  these 


166  A Centuky  of  Dkiftk  Refoem. 

have  a swift  and  drastic  way  of  dealing  with  any 
who  may  be  found  selling  without  a permit.  So 
the  man  applies  to  the  collector  of  revenue  for  his 
district,  for  a permit  to  sell  liquor.  The  Govern- 
ment does  not  refuse — it  never  refuses.  It  may  be 
said  of  our  Government  in  this  respect,  as  was  said 
upon  the  tombstone  of  a certain  saloon-keeper,  “He 
had  a pleasant  smile  for  everybody.”  The  man  in 
this  case  pays  his  twenty-five  dollars,  gets  his  re- 
ceipt, and  the  Government  promises  to  keep  its 
hands  off. 

With  but  one  source  of  danger  now  to  watch, 
the  saloonkeeper  is  willing  to  take  his  chances.  He 
begins  to  sell,  in  the  dark,  of  coiirse.  Drimkards 
are  now  seen  occasionally  on  the  street  again;  it 
/becomes  a matter  of  common  tallv  that  liquor  is  be- 
I ing  sold.  There  may  be  an  occasional  conviction, 
I but  that  is  hard  to  get,  and  unpleasant  and  expen- 
j sive  for  those  who  prosecute.  But  even  a fine  will 
I not  stop  the  selling;  there  is  such  profit  in  liquor, 

■ he  can  afford  to  pay.  The  amount  sold  will  be 
magnified  by  those  opposed  to  the  law,  and  disaf- 
fection Avill  spread.  At  the  next  election  the  tem- 
perance people  will  probably  have  hard  work  to 


Its  Meaning  for  the  Government.  167 

carry  no-license  again ; or  if  they  do  succeed,  it  is 
likely  to  be  by  a narrow  margin,  only  to  be  beaten 
the  year  following.  Liquor  had  been  sold  anyway, 

(people  bad  argued.  There  bad  been  drunkenness 
and  disorder,  constant  contention  and  strife,  and 
the  town  got  no  revenue;  this  carried  the  day  for 
license.  This  is  the  actual  history  of  a majority 
\ of  the  towns  in  the  United  States  that  have  ever 
tried  to  put  no-license  into  operation. 

Of  the  several  factors  that  enter  into  the  situa- 
tion we  wish  here  to  point  out  only  one,  this, 
namely:  If  the  LTnited  States  Government  bad 
I not,  in  defiance  of  the  local  law,  entered  into  con- 
nivance with  the  saloon-keepers  and  given  them  en- 
couragement, by  promise  of  immunity,  those  sa- 
I loon-keepers  would  not  have  dared  to  sell  liquor. 
5 Consequently,  next  to  the  man  who  stands  behind 
'j  the  bar,  the  United  States  Government  stands  as 
' the  chief  promoter  of  this  entire  business. 

The  Government  practices  this  same  code  of 
ethics  in  every  State,  district,  municipality,  and 
town  that  is  under  prohibition.  Any  one  wishing 
to  sell  the  contraband  article  need  but  to  apply 
I to  the  Internal  Revenue  office,  inclosing  always 


168  A Centuky  of  DEmK  Refoem. 

I the  twenty-five  dollars,  and  he  will  receive  the  Gov- 
I emment’s  written  sanction  hy  return  mail,  and  no 
I questions  will  be  asked.  And  while  the  local  offi- 
I cers  of  the  law  are  trying  to  find  out  the  lawbreak- 

1 ers,  the  agent  that  acts  for  the  United  States  could 

'■ 

name  them  by  name. 

Then  every  twelvemonth  all  these  receipts  are 
duly  set  down  in  the  official  report  of  the  com- 
missioner of  internal  revenue,  as  among  the  na- 
tion’s assets.  It  will  be  recorded,  for  instance, 
that  in  Kansas,  where  the  citizens  are  struggling  to 
keep  the  decivilizing  drug  out,  there  were  during 
► the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1901,  one  rectifier, 
2,756  retail  liquor  dealers,  eighteen  wholesale  liq- 
our  dealers,  three  brewers,  308  retail  dealers  in  malt 
liquors.  Wliieh  means  simply  that  from  this  num- 
f her  the  Government  received  money,  and  in  turn 
V issued  permits.  Some  of  these  may  have  sold  only 
a small  fraction  of  the  year,  and  then  been  thrown 
into  prison,  or  otherwise  driven  out  of  their  busi- 
ness by  the  vigilance  of  State  or  local  officers.  But 
the  Government  puts  them  all  down  as  so  many 
persons  doing  a full  liquor  business;  furnishing 
material  in  so  doing,  for  those  who  are  constantly 
disparaging  the  labors  of  temperance  and  order. 


Its  Meaning  for  the  Government.  169 


These  things  the  IJnited  States  Government 
does  through  its  legislative  and  executive  arms, 
while  over  against  this  stands  the  solemn  declara- 
tion of  its  highest  judicial  tribunal,  to  this  effect : 
l“By  the  general  concurrence  of  opinion  of  every 
I civilized  and  Christian  community,  there  are  few 
I sources  of  crime  and  misery  to  society  equal  to  the 
I dramshop,  where  intoxicating  liquors,  in  small 
I quantities,  to  be  drunk  at  the  time,  are  sold  in- 
I discriminately  to  all  parties  applying.  The  statis- 

\ j ^ 

1,-tics  of  every  State  show  a greater  amount  of  crime 
/ and  misery  attributable  to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits 
/ obtained  at  these  retail  liquor  saloons  than  to  any 
other  source.  To  retail  intoxicating  liquors  is  not 

fan  inherent  right  in  a citizen  of  the  United  States 
or  of  a State;  and  any  State,  in  the  exercise  of 
* its  police  power,  may  prohibit  the  traffic  therein 
entirely.” 

Verily,  while  the  voice  sounds  like  Jacob’s,  the 
hands  are  unmistakably  the  hands  of  Esau ! 

Mot  only  in  the  promotion  of  its  trade  at  home 
has  the  liquor  business  received  aid  from  the  Eed- 
eral  Government ; it  has  received  aid  from  the 
same  source  in  the  promotion  of  trade  abroad.  It 


170  A*  Century  OF  Drink  Reform, 

was  but  a few  years  ago  that  the  Secretary  of  State 
at  Washington  sent  a note  to  our  consuls  in  the 
Central  and  South  American  States,  ordering 
them  to  make  inquiry  in  their  respective  districts, 
of  the  conditions  with  reference  to  the  drinking 
habits  of  the  people,  and  the  means  of  supply,  and 
of  the  requirements  necessary  for  a successful  ex- 
port liquor  trade  from  this  country.  And  when, 
with  the  going  out  of  the  century,  our  nation  en- 
tered upon  new  paths ; when,  in  the  exigencies  of 
war,  we  entered  upon  a career  of  foreign  territorial 
expansion,  justifying  this  course  and  assuming 
this  responsibility  in  the  name  of  civilization  and 
commerce, — the  first  branch  of  American  com- 
merce to  receive  the  benefits  of  such  expansion, 
the  first  agency  of  civilization  to  be  brought  into 
play,  was  the  liquor  trade.  In  spite  of  the  declara- 
tion of  such  men  as  President  Schurman,  of  Cor- 
nell University,  the  chairman  of  the  first  Philip- 
pine Commission,  that  the  American  saloon  did 
us  more  harm  there  in  the  beginning  than  anything 
else — the  Filipino  children  staggering  when  they 
played  mock  Americans — still  of  all  trades,  this 
was  the  one  most  conspicuously  to  follow  the  flag 


Its  Meaning  eok  the  Govebnment.  171 

'and  to  receive  the  protection  and  fostering  care  of 
that  flag.  Thus,  during  the  first  full  year  of  ex- 
pansion, for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1899,  the 
exports  of  liquor  of  domestic  manufacture  from 
the  United  States  increased  eighty  per  cent,  the 
largest  percentage  of  increase  of  any  American 
export ; the  exports  of  agricultural  implements 
coming  next,  with  an  increase  of  63.3  per  cent  for 
that  same  year. 

These  things  have  raised  a storm  of  indigna- 
tion and  protest  among  temperance  people  all  over 
the  land.  But  why  ? We  do  not  complain  here 
because  the  Government  protects  and  promotes  the 
liquor  trade.  We  have  simply  shown  that  this  fol- 
lows logically  and  justly  the  principle  of  taxation. 
Granted  the  right  of  a nation  to  tax  a trade  regu- 
larly for  its  support,  and  the  nation  is  in  duty 
bound  to  do  just  what  our  nation  is  doing  toward 
the  trade  in  strong  drink. 


(H) 


CHAPTER  V. 

Its  Meaning  for  the  Liquor  Trade. 

The  Internal  Revenue  tax  has  added  to  the 
I complexity  and  persistency  of  the  drink  problem, 
I in  the  second  place,  in  that  it  led  directly  to  a 
I thorough  organization  of  the  liquor  business,  for 
! the  purpose  (1)  of  promoting  its  own  efficiency 
and  productiveness,  and  (2)  of  forming  a power 
to  resist  legislative  aggression.  Out  of  the  first 
has  come  the  great  grovqli  and  present  wealth  of 
the  liquor  business ; out  of  the  second  has  come 
the  liquor  “power”  that  has  played  so  large  a part 
in  the  subsequent  politics  of  the  nation.  We  will 
look  at  these  in  turn. 

I.  The  levy  of  a heavy  federal  tax,  in  1862, 
marked  a radical  change  in  the  methods  of  busi- 
ness and  in  the  forms  of  development  of  the  entire 
liquor  industry.  Promiscuous  liquor-selling  now 
ceased.  With  small  capital  and  indifferent  busi- 
ness methods  the  liquor  trade  now  became  unprofit- 

172 


Its  Meaning  eoe  the  Liquok  Trade.  173 

able,  or  impossible.  Liquor  had  hitherto  been 
plentiful  and  cheap.  There  were  numerous  small 
stills  throughout  the  country,  and  no  large  capital 
was  invested.  As  to  the  brewing  industry,  that 
was  yet  in  its  infancy.  t — 

But  now  there  came  a change.  The  grocery 
store  vending  liquors,  and  others  engaged  in  the 
trade  in  a small  way,  either  had  to  abandon  it,  or 
go  into  it  as  a business — with  all  that  that  implies. 
Many  did  quit.  The  rest  proceeded  to  enlarge 
the  business.  First,  more  capital  became  neces- 
sary, and  with  it  a more  intelligent  organization 
and  management  of  the  business.  A larger  invest- 
ment of  capital,  in  turn,  required  a larger  income ; 
which  required  larger  sales,  which  made  necessary 
the  extension  of  the  trade. 

Then  came  in  competition.  This  reacted  upon 
the  business  as  a further  stimulus.  There  was  a 
yet  larger  investment  of  capital,  with  correspond- 
ingly better  facilities  for  production,  and  a yet 
greater  vigilance  in  pushing  the  trade  and  finding 
markets.  It  was  now  that  the  economic  formula, 
that  demand  creates  supply,  became  reversed,  and 
the  supply  was  made  to  create  a demand.  “Mine 


174  A Centuet  of  Deink  Refoem, 


host”  of  the  tavern  and  inn  of  former  days  disap- 
peared, and  with  him  went  hospitality  and  sim- 
plicity. The  drink-seller,  now  more  and  more  of 
foreign  birth,  still  had  a pleasant  smile  for  his 
customers,  but  it  lasted  only  usually  as  long  as 
the  money  lasted.  Avarice  had  become  his  impell- 
ing power. 

I He  no  longer  waited  for  customers  to  come  in ; 
^ he  proceeded  to  draw  them  in.  “Ice-cold,”  thirst- 
j provoking  signs  were  made  to  allure  the  oppressed 
I in  hot  weather.  A “Hot  Tom  and  Jerry,”  per- 
haps, would  draw  thither  the  feet  of  the  shivering 
in  winter.  Wliat  signs  could  not  do,  a smile  would, 
and  a personal  invitation,  with  a free  drink  and 
a free  lunch — of  pickled  codfish,  red  herring,  and 
salted  pretzels ; for  once  awaken  a thirst  for  liquor, 
and  like  licentiousness,  it  never  goes  backward. 
Start  a saloon  to-day  in  the  most  temperate  com- 
munity, and  give  it  free  course,  and  it  will  build 
p a good  trade. 

Saloons  now  occupied  corner  blocks,  and  were 
elaborately  furnished.  They  were  made  attrac- 
tive, to  attract.  Expensive  plate  mirrors  were  in- 
troduced— there ’s  a charm  about  a mirror.  At- 


Its  Meajting  for  the  Liquor  Trade.  175 

tractive  paintings,  usually  the  figure  of  a woman 
in  gauze  drapery,  or  other  costume  calculated  to 
interest  men,  now  greeted  the  eye  on  entering. 
The  light  became  brighter,  and  the  screens  darker. 
Music  was  brought  in  as  an  adjunct  to  the  busi- 
ness, and  not  infrequently,  mingled  with  the 
strains  of  music  and  the  clink  of  glasses,  were 
heard  the  peals  of  woman’s  laughter, — she,  too, 
brought  in  to  attract  custom.  The  drinking  place 
remained  either  just  plain  “saloon,”  or  became 
“sample  room,”  or  “palace,”  or  maybe,  “Pete’s 
Place,”  just  as  might  suit  the  tastes  and  conceits 
of  each  particular  class  of  customers. 

blow  all  this  was  made  to  serve  but  one  end — 
light,  screens,  mirrors,  music,  pictures,  games,  free 
lunch,  family  entrance, — namely,  to  sell  liquor. 
The  frequent  lavish  displays  of  wealth,  also,  such 
as  paving  the  saloon  floor  with  silver  dollars,  looked 
to  the  same  end.  It  sought  either  to  introduce 
some  striking  novelty,  or  more  generally,  to  main- 
tain for  the  business  an  imposing  respectability 
which  is  suffering  constant  peril.  The  aim  is  the 
same — to  sell  liquor.  This  sole  motive,  bom  first 
of  necessity,  received  ever  new  impulse  from  the 


176  A Centtjey  of  DkijStk  Kefoem. 


very  stimulus  of  success.  The  entire  business  was 
now  driven  with  an  energy  and  a wantonness  un- 
known in  former  days,  or  in  the  methods  of  any 
other  pursuit. 


/ To  this  vigilance  and  enterprise  of  the  liquor 
must  be  laid  chiefly  the  increase  in  the 


(consumption  of  strong  drink  in  this  country  within 
the  last  generation.  Our  large  foreign  immigra- 
’ tion  during  this  period  has  had  something  to  do 
with  it,  of  course ; hut  nothing  less  than  the  ag- 
gressive spirit  of  the  business  itself,  flrst  awak- 
ened by  the  tax,  could  have  brought  it  about  that, 
in  spite  of  the  growing  sentiment  of  temperance 
throughout  the  land,  and  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  no-license  to'wns  and  districts,  the  per  capita 
consumption  of  malt  liquors,  for  instance,  should 
have  more  than  doubled  on  our  rapidly  increasing 
population.  Besides,  total  abstinence  is  by  no 
means  unknovm  among  our  foreign-bom  popula- 
tion. 

I Another  change  in  the  organization  of  the 
liquor  business  is  to  be  noted.  As  is  inevitably  the 
jpase  with  a growing  business  when  competition 
|ls  felt,  the  drink  business  has  moved  toward  con- 
■solidation,  the  actual  ownership  and  wealth  pass- 


Its  Meaning  for  the  Liquor  Trade.  17Y 

ing  into  fewer  and  fewer  hands.  The  weak  have 
been  eliminated  or  absorbed  by  the  strong,  who 
thereby  have  become  yet  stronger.  Thus,  accord- 
ing to  the  census,  there  were  in  the  United  States, 
in  1870,  1,972  establishments  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  malt  liquor;  in  1890  there  were  1,509. 
The  capital  invested  on  the  other  hand,  increased 
from  forty-nine  millions  in  1870,  to  over  four 
hundred  and  fifteen  millions  in  1890.  In  the  dis- 
tillery business  the  same  tendency  has  been  mani- 
fest, though  perhaps  in  a somewhat  less  degree. 

Not  only  has  the  manufacture  of  liquors  passed 
into  fewer  hands,  but  the  retailing  business,  also 
has  passed  largely  into  the  same  hands.  Probably 
from  one-half  to  two-thirds  of  the  saloons  to-day 
are  owned  by,  and  run  in  the  interests  of,  brewers 
and  wholesalers.  These  latter  buy  the  building, 
put  in  the  fixtures,  furnish  the  liquor,  pay  the 
taxes  and  license;  while  the  saloon-keeper  is  only 
a kind  of  employee.  Such  organization  and  push- 
ing from  behind  has  doubtless  planted  many  a 
saloon  where  there  would  otherwise  have  been 
none,  and  thus  promoted  the  sale  and  consumption 
of  liquor. 

12 


178  A Centtjky  of  Dbink  Refokm. 

Thus  has  the  liquor  business,  by  its  compact- 
ness and  efficiency  of  organization  under  the  stim- 
ulus of  taxation,  attained  prosperity  and  wealth 
and  power. 

II.  The  Internal  Revenue  tax  of  1862  led,  in 

. the  second  place,  to  the  banding  together  of  the 
liquor  interests  for  purposes  of  mutual  defense 
against  legislative  encroachments.  Israel  con- 
quered Canaan  because  the  latter  was  made  up  of 
a number  of  petty  and  independent  kingdoms  that 
offered  no  united  resistance.  Before  the  war,  the 
liquor  industry  was  in  many  hands,  and  was  car- 
ried on  usually  in  a small  way.  Small  stills  were 
numerous,  license  fees  were  practically  nothing, 
whisky  was  cheap,  and  the  investments  of  capital 
were  small.  There  was  no  organization  or  bond 

i ■ 

f of  union ; no  power  to  wield,  therefore,  or  to  fear. 

I Consequently,  when  Maine  began  the  decade  of 
the  fifties  with  a prohibitory  law,  other  States  fol- 
lowed and  promptly  passed  similar  laws,  upon  a 
simple  expression  of  popular  sentiment.  There 
was  no  hesitancy  by  first  calculating  political  con- 
sequences, on  the  part  of  legislator  or  politician. 
The  liquor  trade,  from  its  very  nature  not  much 
respected,  was  also  not  yet  feared.  It  had  not  yet 


Its  Meaning  eob  the  Liquoe  Teade.  179 

found  its  voice,  or  become  a factor  to  be  reckoned 
with  in  politics. 

With  the  Internal  Revenue  Act  of  1862  all 
this  was  changed.  On  November  12,  of  that  same 
year,  less  than  three  months  after  the  law  went 
into  effect,  thirty-four  members  of  the  brewing 
trade  met  in  Pythagoras  Hall,  on  Canal  Street, 
New  York,  and  organized  the  United  States  Brew- 
ers’ Association.  “Unity  is  Strength,”  the  tempo- 
rary president  suggested  as  a good  motto  for  their 
meeting.  An  agitation  committee  was  appointed  to 
correspond  with  the  Internal  Revenue  Bureau,  and 
a deputation  soon  afterwards  visited  Washington. 
In  spite  of  the  money  needs  of  the  Government 
at  that  time,  they  succeeded  in  getting  the  beer 
tax  reduced,  the  following  March,  from  one  dollar 
to  sixty  cents,  on  the  barrel.  A year  later,  now 
without  serious  protest  by  the  brewing  interests, 
the  tax  of  one  dollar  was  restored.  At  the  Brew- 
ers’ Congress  of  1864,  in  Milwaukee,  the  agitation 
committee  was  made  permanent,  and  deputations 
to  Washington  became  a regular  feature  of  the 
work  of  the  association.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  liquor  lobby  at  the  nation’s  capital. 


180  A Centuky  of  Dkink  Eefoem. 

But  the  liquor  interests  soon  learned  that  they 
had  no  real  hostility  to  fear  from  the  Government. 
The  tax  had  been  levied,  as  it  had  been  upon  other 
articles,  simply  as  a war  necessity.  In  a very  few 
years,  in  fact,  it  became  apparent  that  the  Gov- 
ernment v/as  enjoying  the  revenue  from  this  source 
' so  well  as  to  make  it  unlikely  that  any  really  hos- 
I tile  measures  would  ever  be  contemplated.  The 
I frequent  presence,  and  friendly  addresses  of  the 
officials  of  the  Internal  Eevenue  Bureau  at  the 
Brewers’  Congresses,  gave  assurance  to  the  same 
end.  The  tax,  so  far,  was  found  not  to  have  hurt 
the  business  any.  It  was  only  necessary  to  raise 
the  price,  for  experience  showed  that  those  who 
drank  would  buy  anyhow. 

From  its  first  work  of  protest,  the  organized 
liquor  power  now  turned  toward  the  exercise  of 
1 congressional  surveillance,  to  guard  against  any 
! possible  future  legislative  aggression.  Such  watch- 
I fulness  was  not  wholly  unwarranted.  For  while 
'l  the  Government  has  been  friendly  and  intimate 
even,  it  has  not  always  been  moved  by  generous 
or  manly  sentiment  in  its  dealings  with  the  liquor 
business.  Wliere  genuine  respect  is  wanting, 


Its  Meaning  foe  the  Liquoe  Teade.  181 

coupled  with  desire,  this  is  perhaps  to  be  expected. 
The  drink  business  soon  proved  so  willing  a part- 
ner and  protege,  genial  and  growing  rich,  that  the 
Government,  an  intimate  associate  in  the  business, 
with  access  to  the  books  and  the  safe,  has  not  al- 
ways been  free  from  the  temptation  to  stretch  its 
hands  a little  too  far.  This  the  assertion  and  self- 
respect  of  the  organized  liquor  power  has  repelled 
through  its  point  of  chief  impact  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment, the  liquor  lobby  at  Washington.  Yet 
this  has  not  angered  the  Government,  and  led  it 
to  an  attitude  of  hostility.  For  this  rebuke  to  its 
presumption,  this  resentment  of  its  undue  liber- 
ties, it  has  been  led  to  think  rather  more  pro- 
foundly of  the  liquor  power.  In  this  way  the  at- 
mosphere was  cleared,  and  a mutual  understand- 
ing established, — a relation  that,  according  to  the 
annual  protestations  of  both  sides,  remains  cordial 
to  this  day. 

The  nation’s  capital,  however,  though  the  first 
scene  of  protest  by  the  organized  liquor  interests, 
has  not  been  the  chief  field  of  their  activity.  The 
Government  happily  avoids  offense  by  shifting  the 
whole  vexatious  temperance  question  upon  the 


182  A Centukt  of  Deink  Refoem. 


States.  Many  of  the  States,  following  a lihe  policy 
of  evasion,  through  ostensibly  liberal  local  option 
laws  shift  it  upon  the  individual  towns  and  munic- 
j"  ipalities.  It  is  in  these  State  and  local  campaigns 
that  the  liquor  power  does  its  most  telling  work. 
This  is  done  by  the  employment  of  a single  agency, 
I a very  potent  factor  in  determining  the  course  of 
I politics — namely,  money,  judiciously  expended. 

Besides  the  national  organization  of  brewers, 
an  organization  of  the  wine  and  spirit  trade  was 
effected  in  Chicago,  in  mass  convention,  October 
18,  1886.  It  was  named  the  Rational  Protective 
Association,  with  John  M.  Atherton,  of  Louisville, 
as  its  president.  Its  avowed  object  was  to  resist 
the  rising  tide  of  prohibition,  which  at  this  time 
became  very  perceptible.  This  organization  did 
effective  work  for  about  a dozen  years.  Its  place 
. is  now  taken  by  the  Rational  Liquor  Dealers’  Pro- 
'■  tective  Bureau,  a recent  creature  of  the  Rational 
AVholesale  Liquor  Dealers’  Association.  The  Dis- 
tilling Company  of  America,  better  knovm  as  the 
Whisky  Trust,  paid  all  the  administrative  ex- 
penses of  this  bureau  during  its  first  year  just 
closed. 


Its  Meaning  foe  the  Liquoe  Teade.  183 

The  money  resources  of  the  liquor  organiza- 
tions are  large.  They  usually  have  a large  regular 
income  from  fixed  annual  assessments  upon  their 
members ; and  when  special  funds  are  required  for 
special  needs,  there  are  extra  assessments.  These 
funds  are  at  the  generous  disposal  of  State  and 
local  organizations  for  any  special  pressing  work. 

In  large  cases  of  liquor  litigation  these  organ- 
izations furnish  the  financial  backing.  When  in 
1887  several  Kansas  cases  were  appealed  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  involving  the  right 
of  compensation  for  a business  outlawed  by  pro- 
hibition, it  was  the  United  States  Brewers’  Asso- 
ciation that  engaged  the  counsel.  Senator  Vest,  of 
Missouri,  and  Joseph  H.  Choate,  of  Kew  York, 
to  argue  these  cases,  paying  them  princely  fees  for 
their  services.  It  was  in  these  cases  that  the  de- 
cision was  handed  down,  denying  the  right  of  com- 
pensation to  liquor  dealers. 

. The  influence  of  these  organizations  is  also  felt 
I through  the  country  in  efforts  made  to  bring  the 
I violators  of  the  liquor  laws  to  justice.  Ko  accused 
I liquor-seller  in  any  no-license  town  or  prohibition 
State  stands  alone.  If  local  money  and  influence 


184  A Centuky  of  Deink  Eefoem. 


are  not  sufficient,  he  has  the  organized  liquor  power 

of  the  country  back  of  him.  This  is  one  of  the 

reasons  it  is  so  hard  to  get  a conviction  in  a liquor 

case  almost  anywhere.  But  not  only  in  violations 

such  as  these  is  the  accused  shielded  by  whatever 

power  money  can  wield.  In  those  graver  crimes 

that  not  infrequently  occur  in  connection  with  the 

enforcement  of  the  liquor  laws,  this  same  power 

is  felt.  We  will  take  a conspicuous  instance,  the 

murder  of  Rev.  George  C.  Haddock  on  the  streets 

I of  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  on  August  3,  1886.  Had- 

I 

I dock  was  a Methodist  minister  in  Sioux  City,  and 
I was  at  the  head  of  a citizens’  movement  for  the 
I enforcement  of  the  prohibitory  law.  He  had  in 
this  way  aroused  the  wrath  of  the  law-breakers, 
and  had  been  marked  for  death.  Returning  home, 
on  the  evening  of  this  day,  from  a drive  to  a neigh- 
boring place,  he  left  his  team  at  the  livery  stable, 
and  as  he  proceeded  to  go  home  a crowd  collected 
to  intercept  him,  in  trying  to  pass  ivhom  he  was 
shot  and  instantly  killed. 

The  country  was  aroused  as  by  an  electric 
shock.  Suspicion  fastened  upon  a certain  brewer, 
and  he  was  at  length  arrested  and  brought  to  trial. 


Its  Meaning  fob  the  Liquok  Tkade.  185 


\ 


At  a meeting  of  the  Saloon-keepers’  Association 
the  night  before  the  murder,  it  was  he  who  had 
suggested  putting  Haddock  out  of  the  way,  and 
had  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  was 
money  in  the  treasury  of  the  association  that  could 
be  used  to  reward  the  deed. 

The  trial  awakened  widespread  interest. 
Every  one  had  confidence  in  the  judge,  but  looked 
with  suspicion  on  the  jury.  Strong  evidence  was 
presented  by  the  prosecution.  Yet  at  the  conclu- 
sion, eleven  of  the  jurors  voted  for  acquittal.  Why 
they  voted  thus  they  alone  probably,  and  God, 
know.  It  is  known  generally,  however,  that  the 
one  man  who  held  out  for  conviction  had  been  ap- 
proached and  offered  a bribe  to  vote  for  acquittal. 
A second  trial  was  held.  Even  stronger  evidence 
was  presented ; but  to  no  avail.  The  jury,  after  a 
consultation  that  lasted  about  ten  minutes,  brought 
in  a unanimous  verdict  of  acquittal.  The  jurors 
then  proceeded  in  a body  to  the  photographer  and 
sat. for  a picture,  with  the  accused  brewer  in  the 
center  of  the  group ; a proceeding,  let  it  be  here 
remarked,  not  of  every-day  occurrence  in  the  an- 
nals of  jurisprudence.  The  liquor  interests  of  the 


186  A Centuey  of  Deink  Reeoem. 


country,  especially  the  United  States  Brewers’  As- 
sociation, were  back  of  this  case  with  money  and 
influence. 

Uot  only  is  the  organized  liquor  power  using 
its  influence  against  the  enforcement  of  prohibi- 
tory laws,  in  that  it  shields  the  law-breakers,  and 
murderers  even,  when  brought  to  trial,  it  uses  its 
power  to  prevent  the  enactment  of  prohibitory 
laws  in  the  beginning.  To  show  some  of  the 
ways  in  which  money  is  used  when  a campaign  is 
on  for  prohibition,  we  will  take  a single  notable 
instance,  the  Pennsylvania  campaign  for  constitu- 
tional prohibition,  in  1889.  The  people  of  that 
State  were  to  decide  by  ballot  whether  prohibition 
was  to  become  a law  and  to  be  a part  of  the  State 
Constitution. 

The  liquor  men  had  known  that  the  fight  was 
coming  on,  and  had  prepared  for  it.  State  and 
local  forces  Avere  completely  organized.  The 
raising  of  money  Avas  first  looked  after.  In 
Philadelphia  the  large  hotels  Avere  assessed  a thou- 
sand dollars  each,  and  the  small  retailers  from 
tAventy-five  to  fifty  dollars.  Besides  this,  the  sales 
of  all  beer  AA^ere  assessed  at  ten  cents  a barrel.  Pur- 


Its  Meaning  eon  the  Liquok  Tkade.  187 

ther,  each  brewer  was  required  to  solicit  money 
from  every  one  with  whom  he  had  trade  dealings, 
such  as  the  barrel  makers,  those  from  whom  they 
bought  horses,  grain,  machinery,  etc.  In  this  way, 
$200,000  were  raised  in  Philadelphia  alone  for 
the  State  committee.  These  same  methods  essen- 
tially were  employed  over  the  State.  The  brewers 
of  Allegheny  County,  it  was  reported,  had  sub- 
scribed $35,000;  and  the  Retail  Liquor  Dealers’ 
Association  of  the  same  county,  $25,000  more.  The 
trade  from  all  parts  of  the  country  responded.  The 
brewers  of  ISTew  York  contributed  $100,000,  and 
large  sums  were  contributed  by  the  United  States 
Brewers’  Association,  and  the  National  Protective 
Association.  The  total  campaign  fund  was  prob- 
ably not  short  of  a million  dollars.  The  Philadel- 
phia Press,  in  fact,  estimated  that  this  was  the 
amount  contributed  in  the  State  alone. 

How  this  vast  sum  was  expended  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  facts.  Nearly  all  the  news- 
papers of  the  State  were  found  to  oppose  the  pro- 
hibitory amendment.  Every  editor  had  been  vis- 
ited in  person  by  the  liquor  interests  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  campaign,  and  arrangements  had  been 


188  A Century  of  DpaNK  EEFOsii. 

made  for  his  support.  Weekly  papers  were  paid 
from  fifty  to  five  hundred  dollars,  and  the  city 
dailies  from  one  thousand  to  four  thousand  dollars 
each.  Those  papers  that  would  not  enter  such  a 
contract  were  paid  from  thirty  to  sixty  cents  a line 
for  all  matter  published  on  the  liquor  side.  The 
material  was  furnished  them,  for  the  most  part,  by 
the  liquor  literary  bureau,  written  up  by  men  paid 
for  this  special  work,  and  to  be  printed  as  editorial 
or  as  news  matter,  as  might  be  directed.  Thou- 
sands of  copies  of  these  papers  were  then  bought 
and  sent  out,  especially  to  farmers,  to  whom  such 
arguments  as  the  liquor  revenue,  and  how  prohibi- 
tion would  hurt  the  farmers,  appealed  with  pecul- 
iar force. 

That  the  almost  universal  attitude  of  the  press 
was  not  a matter  of  conviction,  is  made  evident  by 
a few  facts.  Upon  the  State  chairman’s  statement, 
who  managed  the  campaign  on  the  temperance 
side,  a former  attorney-general  of  the  State,  at 
least  one  daily  paper  in  Philadelphia  stood  ready, 
for  a consideration  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  to 
espouse  the  cause  of  prohibition.  Papers  through- 
out the  State  not  only  printed  general  matter  fur- 


Its  Meaning  fob  the  Liquok  Trade.  189 


j.  nished  by  tbe  liquor  management,  but  tbey  printed 
t bogus  articles,  made  up  in  Philadelphia,  under 
the  guise  of  honest  dispatches  from  Des  Moines, 
Topeka,  Atchison,  and  other  places  in  prohibition 
States, — giving  what  pretended  to  be  facts  and 
figures  to  show  the  failure  of  prohibitory  laws,  and 
the  havoc  wrought  by  them.  These  dispatches  so 
called,  were  printed  with  the  full  knowledge  that 
they  were  bogus.  They  appeared  in  the  news  col- 
umn in  the  ordinary  way,  with  nothing  to  indicate 
that  it  was  advertising  matter.  When  the  man- 
agers of  the  campaign  for  the  other  side  sent  to 
the  prohibition  States  and  obtained  from  aulhori- 

(tative  sources  a complete  refutation  of  these  state- 
ments, this  matter  was  refused  publication  in  the 
leading  papers  except  upon  the  payment  of  so  much 
a line,  and  upon  the  condition  that  the  correction 
should  in  each  case  appear  with  a mark  to  distin- 
guish it  as  advertising  matter.* 

Another  heavy  drain  upon  the  purse  of  the 
liquor  management  was  the  politician.  There  is 
always  a purchasable  vote  in  every  campaign, 
varying  largely  with  the  amount  of  money  avail- 

*8ee  article,  Const.  Prohibition.  Pennsylvania,  In  Cyclopedia 
of  Temperance  and  Prohibition.  Funk  & Wagnalls  Co. 


190 


A Century  of  Deink  Reform, 


able  for  such  purpose.  It  seems  that  Hr.  Quay 

) 

i‘‘bled”  the  liquor  organization  for  three  years,  and 
^ben  came  near  causing  its  defeat  at  the  polls.  The 
^umor  became  current  that  this  money  was  being 
contributed  to  defeat  Grover  Cleveland  for  the 
Presidency.  A movement  was  then  set  on  foot  to 
have  the  Democratic  vote  cast  solidly  for  the 
amendment,  to  punish  the  brewers  of  the  State. 
This  was  prevented  by  timely  discovery,  and  by  the 
liberal  use  of  money  in  “fixing  the  boys,”  by  such 
soft  answer  turning  away  their  wrath.  In  Phila- 
delphia the  poll-list  was  bought  of  the  county  com- 
missioners by  the  liquor  interests,  for  their  exclu- 
sive use,  with  the  understanding  that  it  was  not  to 
be  returned  until  after  the  election. 

Then  some  money  went  out  for  speakers,  but 
not  a gi’eat  deal.  It  is  the  general  practice  of  the 
liquor  interests  in  any  contest  not  to  make  large 
use  of  this  means  of  campaigning.  Probably 
good  speakers  are  hard  to  get.  Those  whose  serv- 
ices can  be  secured  are  of  course  well  paid.  In 
the  Pennsylvania  campaigTi  Kate  Field  was  said 
to  have  received  $250  a day,  and  expenses,  for  her 
efforts  to  convince  her  hearers  that  prohibition  is 
bad  for  a State. 


Its  Meaning  foe  the  Liqtjok  Trade.  191 

With  all  this  money  at  its  disposal,  the  com- 
mittee on  the  liquor  side  was  $50,000  in  debt  at 
the  close  of  the  campaign,  chiefly  in  accounts  with 
newspapers.  On  the  other  hand,  the  State  com- 
mittee which  managed  the  prohibition  side  of  the 
campaign,  though  it  had  the  influential  support  of 
such  men  as  John  Wanamaker,  Governor  Beaver, 
T.  V.  Powderly,  ex-Chief  Justice  Agnew,  and 
many  other  foremost  men,  there  was  but  a com- 
paratively poor  equipment  of  funds  from  the  be- 
ginning. The  proposed  prohibitory  amendment 
was  defeated  by  a vote  of  484,644  to  296,617,  and 
the  average  American  citizen  will  diagnose  this 
as  a symptom  that  public  sentiment  is  not  yet 
ready  for  prohibition. 

In  conclusion:  to  claim  that  all  this  activity 
by  the  liquor  interests  is  due  entirely  and  chiefly 
to  the  Internal  Revenue  tax  would  probably  be 
trying  to  prove  too  much.  That  the  liquor  inter- 
ests would  have  opposed  the  propagandism  of  tem- 
perance and  prohibition  which  has  swept  over  our 
land  since  the  Civil  War,  even  had  no  Internal 
Revenue  tax  ever  been  laid,  is  more  than  probable. 
Such  a thing  was  to  be  expected,  of  course,  as  a 


192  A Centuky  oe  Deii^k  Eeeoem. 


plain  matter  of  self-preservation.  "What  we  wish 
to  emphasize  is  this : that  it  was  the  Internal  Rev- 
.enne  tax  which  first  directly  aroused  the  liqnor  in- 
Jterests  and  put  them  in  fighting  fettle ; that  it  is 
I this  tax  which  took  the  liquor  business  out  of  the 
I hands  of  the  many,  and  concentrated  it  in  the 
I hands  of  the  few,  thereby  giving  to  it  organiza- 
I tion  and  wealth  and  power.  In  the  hands  of  the 
^ many,  with  small  profits,  it  could  never  have  be- 
come the  formidable  power  it  now  is.  It  could 
not  have  reached  the  compactness  of  organization, 
the  unity  and  celerity  of  action,  or  amassed  the 
immense  corruption  funds  that  it  now  has.  Xo 
industry  that  is  not' in  a measure  a monopoly,  and 
wealthy,  and  knows  itself  thoroughly,  can  have 
much  infiuence  in  shaping  or  defeating  legislation. 

"While  it  is,  then,  the  vigorous  temperance  agi- 
tation everywhere  that  calls  forth  the  constant 
resistance  of  the  liquor  power,  it  is  the  Internal 
Revenue  policy  of  the  United  States  that  has, 
during  these  forty  years  put  the  liquor  power  in 
fine  shape  for  the  battle. 


CHAPTEE  VL 


Its  Meaniitg  eor  the  Free  Citizeh. 

There  is  a third  complication,  finally,  which 
the  federal  policy  of  taxation  has  introduced  into 
the  drink  question.  This  applies  also  to  State  and 
local  taxation  under  the  license  system.  The  com- 
plication is  this:  the  payment  of  a heavy  money 
sum  into  the  public  treasury  by  the  liquor  business 
has  so  blinded  the  eyes,  seared  the  conscience,  and 
sealed  up  the  fountain  of  pity  in  the  human  breast, 
in  the  face  of  the  daily  manifest  train  of  want  and 
woe  that  proceeds  from  this  traffic  everywhere, 
that  the  whole  drink  issue  has  never  yet  been 
squarely  met  and  fought  out  on  its  merits,  whether 
it  is  good  or  whether  evil. 

That  the  drink  industry  itself,  under  the  disci- 
pline of  taxation,  should  from  its  first  strenuous 
efforts  for  self-preservation  have  become  strong 
and  lusty,  and  wanton  even,  is  scarcely  to  be  con- 
sidered strange.  That  the  attitude  of  the  Federal 
13  193 


194  A Centuky  of  Dkink  Eefofm. 

Government  toward  this  industry,  this  genial,  rich 
patron,  from  whom  it  receives  more  than  a fourth 
of  its  entire  support  each  year, — that  its  attitude 
toward  this  industry  should  be  one  of  devotion, 
this  too  is  not  unnatural  or  strange.  But  that  the 
free-horn  American  citizen,  to  whom  it  is  given  to 
see  truth  face  to  face ; whose  strength  is  not  stayed ; 
whose  strong  arm,  beneath  high  heaven,  is  free 
to  support  or  strike  down ; that  his  hands,  conse- 
crated under  God  to  relieve  the  oppressed,  to  raise 
up  the  faint  and  the  fallen,  to  lift  up  in  this  land 
of  the  free  an  ensign  unto  which  the  nations  of  the 
earth  shall  come  for  their  healing, — that  these 
hands,  too,  should  have  become  unsteady  and  un- 
certain, itching  for  gold ; this  is  unspeakably  de- 
plorable. 

On  the  assumption  that  the  liquor  business  is 
in  a true  sense  a legitimate  business,  like  any  other, 
the  whole  license  and  special  tax  policy,  from  the 
heavily  disproportionate  burden  it  places  upon 
this  pursuit,  is  palpably  and  inexcusably  unjust. 
That  the  business  can  stand  this  burden  will  not 
serve  to  justify  it;  it  only  raises  suspicion.  That 
the  liquor  business  cheerfully  pays  this  heavy  tax. 


Its  Meaning  fok  the  Fkee  Citizen.  195 

' and  even  advocates  the  policy,  is  yet  more  signifi- 
I cant ; it  is  itself  a condemnation.  On  the  assump- 
V tion,  then,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  liquor  busi- 
I ness  is  not  like  other  pursuits,  but  from  its  very 
, nature  is  fraught  with  evil,  which  a rigid 'legal 
restriction  must  and  can  effectually  prevent, — on 
this  assumption  the  entire  policy  of  license  and 
taxation,  from  the  fact  that  after  the  fairest  trial 
under  such  severest  restriction  the  consumption  of 
strong  drink  in  the  aggregate  and  per  capita  has 
grown,  and  the  evils  flowing  therefrom  have  known 
no  perceptible  abatement, — this  has  proven  the 
license  and  restriction  policy  a stupendous  failure, 
and  again  without  justification.  A little  clear 
thinking  should  have  made  this  plain  in  the  begin- 
ning. The  way  to  restrict  is  to  restrict,  not  per- 
mit— for  money. 

It  remains,  then,  that  because  the  liquor  trade 
is  willing  and  able  to  pay  a large  amount  of  money 
into  the  public  treasury,  the  American  citizen  al- 
f lows  that  it  may  work  evil;  refusing  to  suppress 
the  evil  because  with  it  would  cut  off  a source  of 
revenue  to  the  State.  In  other  words,  the  Amer- 
ican citizen  sanctions  and  sustains  the  public  drink 


196  A Century  of  Drinr  Eefoem. 


trade,  not  that  it  is  good,  but  because  be  thinks  it 
pays  him  well.  It  is  Ruskin  who  observes  that 
the  condemnation  resting  on  the  world  is  not  that 
men  do  not  believe  in  their  Lord,  hut  that  they  sell 
Him! 

The  farmer  sells  the  product  of  his  land;  the 
laborer,  that  of  his  hands ; the  professional  man 
the  product,  or  service  of  his  brain, — for  money. 
This  money,  as  a medium  of  exchange  and  a con- 
venient measure  of  material  value,  will  in  turn 
buy  a suit  of  clothes,  or  a book,  or  a carriage,  or 
the  services  of  a railway  company  for  a journey. 
These  are  commodities,  and  are,  therefore,  proper 
I objects  of  barter  or  sale.  The  value  of  the  one 
can  be  estimated,  vdth  some  degree  of  approxima-  , 
tion,  in  terms  of  the  other.  But  in  what  terms 
I shall  the  value  of  life  be  stated  ? How  much  will 
I a man  give  in  exchange  for  it  ? “All  that  he  hath,” 
yet  that  will  not  buy  it,  nor  will  it  represent  the 
value  of  it.  We  have  here  come  upon  terms  that 
1 are  incommensurable.  Life — the  soul,  unlike 

wheat  or  wood  or  gold,  has  no  units  of  measure, 
of  size  or  weight,  or  value.  It  can  not  possibly 
be  exchanged,  therefore,  for  any  of  these.  Do 


Its  Meaning  eok  the  Feee  Citizen.  197 

we  allow  a man  who  has  deliberately  taken  a 
human  life  to  expiate  his  crime  by  the  payment  of 
so  much  gold?  Noj  he  has  to  pay  with  his  own 
life.  Only  in  terms  of  another  life  can  the  value 
of  a life  be  estimated.  Indeed,  so  sacred  is  life 
that  even  this  right  of  the  State  to  take  the 
i wretched  life  of  a murderer,  is  coming  to  be  more 
and  more  questioned  as  civilization  advances. 

But  there  are  yet  higher  values  than  life, — ■ 
virtue,  honor,  love.  To  sacrifice  life  rather  than 
virtue  and  honor;  to  perish  in  a labor  of  love — 
to  such  deeds  all  mankind  pays  tribute.  If  mur- 
der, then,  is  so  gvave  a crime,  when  death  is  con- 
fessedly not  the  worst  of  evils,  what  shall  we  say 
of  a sanctioned  public  practice  whereby  reason 
ends  in  insanity,  and  virtue  in  shame  ? How 
many  dollars  will  represent  the  difference  between 
that  sad  remnant  of  womanhood,  with  face  once 
fair,  now  festered  and  foul,  who,  after  having 
served  the  lusts  of  the  fiesh,,  has  now  been  cast 
away  to  be  trodden  under  foot  of  men, — and  that 
other  woman,  with  face  yet  fair  and  heart  yet 
pure ; a devoted  wife,  a tender  and  beloved  mother 
of  children,  by  grace  queen  of  the  home;  com- 


198  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

manding  by  her  presence  everywhere  the  involun- 
tary respect  and  homage  of  men;  how  many  dol- 
lars ought  a man  fairly  to  receive  before  he  should 
hand  over  his  sister  or  daughter  to  an  institution 
that  will  transform  her  from  the  latter  into  the 
former  state  ? The  close  relation  between  drink 
and  impurity  no  man  may  dare  deny.  Drink 
opens  the  way  into  the  citadel  of  virtue  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  impregnable.  Or  how 
much  money,  again,  will  represent  the  difference 
between  that  man  whose  very  presence  is  feared 
by  his  own  children,  and  dreaded  by  his  worse  than 
widowed  wife ; whose  daily  earnings,  left  at  night 
in  the  saloon  till,  serve  to  feed  other  mouths  and 
clothe  other  bodies  than  those  of  his  own  family; 
who  on  returning  home  after  midnight  hours  will 
curse  and  destroy  articles  of  furniture  that  come 
in  his  way,  and  proceeding  to  his  wife’s  bed,  begets 
imbecility,  and  after  ridding  himself  of  discom- 
fort by  copious  vomiting,  sinks  into  a heavy  sleep ; 
this  man  and  that  other  husband  and  father,  whose 
home-coming  is  eagerly  looked  for  by  his  little 
ones ; who  devoutly  asks  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
the  frugal  evening  meal ; who  by  industiw  and  self- 


Its  Meaning-  eoe  the  Free  Citizen.  199 


j 


denial  is  raising  up  a large  family  to  usefulness 
and  honor;  to  whom  no  appeal  of  religion  or  hu- 
manity comes  in  vain;  in  whose  daily  walk  every 
young  man  finds  an  incentive  to  better  living,  and 
every  woman  a profounder  respect — in  what  terms 
of  money,  by  coolest  calculation,  shall  we  estimate 
the  difference  between  these  two  men — their  value 
before  God,  or  to  society  ? That  widowed  mother 
who  spent  many  an  anxious,  weary  midnight  hour 
over  the  cradle  of  her  only  child ; who  nursed  him 
to  health  and  strength  by  her  love  and  her  prayers  ; 
who  took  from  her  own  want  that  he  might  lack 
nothing;  in  whose  requiting  confidence  and  affec- 
tion, his  bright  eye  and  fine  promise,  the  mother 
found  a joy  and  a cheer  that  made  her  very  sacri- 
fice sweet;  how  high  a license  fee  ought  a com- 
munity to  require  of  a liquor-seller  that  he  may 
take  this  boy,  give  him  liquor,  and  throw  him  into 
the  gutter,  or  send  him  home  to  his  mother — 
drunk  ? 

How  the  tax-advocating  citizen  will  work  out 
such  a question  honestly  in  his  own  soul,  if  he 
does  work  it  out,  he  alone  probably  knows.  Prob- 
ably he  changes  the  form  of  the  question,  by  that 


200  A Century  of  Drink  Eeform. 

same  instinct  wliereby  one  involuntarily  shifts  his 
body  from  a position  of  discomfort  to  one  of  ease. 
Were  he  to  give  an  absolutely  candid  and  logical 
answer  to  this  question  he  would  say  this:  the 
money  value  of  the  ruin  wrought  the  country  over 
by  the  use  of  liquor  for  any  given  period,  divided 
by  the  amount  of  liquor  consumed  during  that 
period,  fixes  the  appraisement  of  damage  done  at 
$1.10  for  each  gallon  of  whisky  drunk,  and  one 
; dollar  for  each  barrel  of  beer  consumed.  This  the 
distiller  and  brewer  have  to  pay  before  the  liquor 
goes  out,  a kind  of  penalty  for  making  it.  This 
is  the  Federal  excise  tax.  Furthermore,  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  retail  liquor-seller  contributes 
to  the  damage,  by  handling  the  liquor,  is  estimated 
at  an  average  of  twenty-five  dollars  each  year. 
This  is  the  Federal  special  liquor  tax.  According 
to  the  same  Government  schedule,  the  wholesale 
liquor  dealer’s  part  in  the  harvest  of  desolation  is 
estimated  at  one  hundred  dollars  a year;  the  rec- 
tifier’s part,  likewise  at  one  hundred  dollars.  If 
he  does  a large  business,  however,  and  ‘‘rectifies” 
more  than  five  hundred  barrels  a year,  he  is  be- 
lieved to  do  two  hundred  dollars  worth  of  damage 
each  year,  etc. 


Its  Meaning  eok  the  Fkee  Citizen.  201 


This  is  the  American  citizen’s  estimate  when 
he  is  acting  in  his  federal  capacity.  As  a citizen 
of  the  State  he  has  a slightly  difFerent  basis  of 
computation.  Here  he  does  not  concern  himself 
with  the  brewer,  the  distiller,  the  rectifier,  the 
maker  of  stills ; he  fixes  the  responsibility  upon  the 
I retailer,  the  man  who  sets  the  liquor  before  the 
I people  to  drink,  the  immediate  agent  of  evil.  Ap- 
j praising  the  total  human  wreckage  wrought  by 
i the  fire,  flood,  and  tempest  of  strong  drink  for  one 
year,  the  citizen  divides  this  by  the  total  number 
of  drink-sellers,  and  reaches  an  annual  average 
damage  for  each,  say  of  five  hundred  dollars.  This 
is  then  fixed  as  the  minimum  annual  rate,  or  li- 
cense fee.  This  is  the  rate  in  Illinois,  for  instance. 
In  other  States,  like  Wisconsin,  with  a large  alien 
population  and  a less  enlightened  conscience,  the 
injury  wrought  is  appraised  at  a lower  figure.  In 
Massachusetts,  on  the  other  hand,  with  its  Puritan 
standard  of  morals,  sobriety  and  manhood  are  ap- 
praised much  higher.  It  takes  not  less  than  about 
twelve  hundred  dollars  to  get  permission  to  sell 
liquor  for  one  year  in  that  State. 

Ho ; the  citizen  does  not  really  want  it  to  seem 


202 


A.  Centuky  of  Deink  Refoe^i. 


that  he  is  setting  a money  value  on  virtue,  though 
in  truth  and  before  God  he  does  do  this  very  thing. 
He  does  not  really  look  at  it  in  that  way,  but  he 
carries  out  the  transaction  just  the  same.  He 
knows  that  the  liquor  business  is  fraught  vdth  evil, 
not  potentially  or  casually,  but  actually  and  inev- 
itably. He  knows  that  an  open  public  saloon  in  a 
community  will  spread  evil  and  destroy  morals, 
just  as  inevitably  as  a public  well  which  has  be- 
come polluted  by  sewage  will  spread  typhoid  fever, 
and  cause  death  in  that  commimity.  Hot  every- 
body gets  water  at  that  well.  Hot  every  one  that 
uses  the  water  will  get  typhoid  fever;  but  a num- 
ber will.  Some  will  die.  And  the  Board  of  Health 
will  condemn  that  well! 

Hot  every  one  in  toivn  goes  to  that  saloon  to 
drink;  but  it  is  there  for  that  purpose,  and  many 
do  go.  Hot  every  one  that  goes  and  drinks  will 
be  perceptibly  affected  thereby,  but  a number  will, 
in  their  persons  and  finances — and  their  families. 
Some  will  be  utterly  ruined.  And  the  citizen  says. 
Make  him  pay  five  hundred  dollars  every  year! 

We  must  have  revenue,  the  citizen  says;  and 
his  eyes  see  and  ears  hear  nothing  but  the  gold  as 


Its  Meaning  eok  the  Free  Citizen.  203 


. it  drops  clink,  clink,  into  the  strong  box  of  village 
or  citj.  The  liquor  interests  take  advantage  of 
this  peculiar  human  weakness,  and  when  a cam- 
jpaign  is  on  for  no-license  or  prohibition,  word  is 
/passed  down  the  line  of  the  workers  on  the  liquor 
/ side,  as  was  done  in  the  Pennsylvania  campaign 
■already  mentioned,  namely,  “Don’t  defend  the 
I saloon.  Talk  revenue,  and  how  prohibition  will 
/ hurt  business.”  Just  before  a recent  election  there 

■ appeared  on  the  first  page  of  one  of  the  leading 
dailies,  in  large  letters,  in  a city  which  for  cul- 
ture, intellect,  and  morals  prides  itself  as  Being 
the  foremost  city  of  America,  words  to  this  effect 

(an  advertisement,  of  course,  paid  for)  : “ 

dollars  were  paid  into  the  city  treasury  of 

ylast  year  by  the  liquor  trade.  Remember  this 
I when  you  vote  to-morrow.”  The  citizens  remem- 

■ hered.  With  such  large  figures  in  mind  it  would 
be  hard,  indeed,  to  think  of  anything  else.  Only 
one  more  thing  let  the  citizen  remember,  over 
against  this,  namely:  except  for  this  revenue  he 
would  not  tolerate  the  drink  nuisance  in  any  com- 
munity, not  for  a twelvemonth. 

But,  never  mind.  It ’s  done,  and  business  is 


204  A Cebttuky  of  Deiyk  Eefoem. 

business.  How  mncb  bas  tbis  bargain  netted  us  ? 
How  much  bave  we  made,  now — money  ? Tou 
tell. 

‘‘Well,  in  tbis  town  we  get  three  thousand  dol- 
lars a year.  There  are  six  saloons,  which  pay  five 
hundred  dollars  apiece.  This  is  paid  promptly, 
the  first  of  each  quarter,  in  advance.  Out  of  this 
we  maintain  our  electric  lighting,  keep  our  streets 
and  sidewalks  in  good  condition.  This  money  is 
easily  raised,  and  lessens  our  taxes  by  just  so  much. 
Hot  only  that,  but  the  saloons  bring  trade  to  to-^vn. 
The  town  would  be  dead  otherwise.  They  are  the 
making  of  the  town.” 

Indeed.  Then  perhaps  there  is  another  side 
to  this  question,  besides  a right  and  a wrong  side. 
Perhaps  the  evils  connected  Avith  drink-selling  are 
only  necessarily  incidental  to  any  real  material 
prosperity.  Perhaps,  after  all,  one  son’s  degrada- 
tion, one  mother’s  woe,  must  not  outweigh  the 
material  necessities  and  well-being  of  society  at 
large.  It  may  be  true,  we  have  not  seen  all  sides. 

“Yes;  and  besides  these  large  sums  that  the 
saloons  pay  into  the  treasury  of  our  towns,  the 
liquor  industry  of  the  country  pays  a large  part  of 


Its  Meaning  eok  the  Free  Citizen.  205 


/ 

} 

I 


the  expenses  of  our  Government,  in  the  form  of 
revenue  and  special  taxes.  The  people  are  already 
complaining  of  heavy  taxes;  yet  except  for  this 
liquor  revenue  they  would  be  taxed  still  heavier.” 

Indeed ! Indeed ! Indeed ! So  much  money ! 
There  is  another  side,  surely.  And — but  where 
do  they  get  all  this  money  ? 

Listen ! Let  us  look  at  a thing  here  with 
steady,  scrutinizing,  unflinching  gaze.  Where 
does  all  this  money  come  from?  Do  the  distiller, 
the  brewer,  the  drink-seller  make  it  ? That  is  to 
say,  does  the  drink  business,  which  does  not  dig 
this  money  out  of  the  earth,  but  like  other  lines 
of  trade  receives  it  in  exchange, — does  this  busi- 
hess,  upon  any  principle  of  sound  economy,  earn 
ithis  money  by  rendering  adequate  service  for  value 
received  ? If  so,  it  then  becomes  an  actual  pro- 
ducer of  wealth,  and  these  millions  constitute  its 
assets — whatever  its  liabilities — and  must  be  set 
down  to  its  credit  in  its  ledger  account  with  so- 
ciety. Has  this  money  been  earned  ? That ’s  the 
question. 

The  farmer  who  tills  the  earth  and  makes  it 
yield  her  increase,  becomes  an  agent  of  produc- 


206  A Centuky  oe  Dkink  Reedem. 

tion.  The  man  who  invents  his  implements  for 
him;  the  man  who  constructs  them;  the  man  who 
furnishes  the  materials  for  them,  who  digs  the 
iron  out  of  the  earth;  whose  sagacity  and  enter- 
prise locates  and  opens  the  mine — these  are  all 
producers  of  wealth,  creators  of  value.  So  is  the 
man  who  builds  your  house,  makes  your  clothes, 
rears  the  sheep,  raises  the  cotton  and  flax;  who 
builds  a bridge,  constructs  a railroad,  blasts  a rock, 
levels  a road;  the  miller  who  grinds  the  wheat, 
the  baker  who  makes  it  into  bread,  the  merchant 
who  sells  clothing  and  groceries,  the  banker  who 
facilitates  exchange,  the  teacher  who  imparts  and 
fosters  learning,  the  physician  who  relieves  suffer- 
ing and  aids  in  restoring  to  health,  the  lawyer  who 
gives  coimsel  and  protects  alike  the  rights  of  the 
guilty  and  the  innocent,  the  minister  who  com- 
forts the  sorrowing,  brings  hope  to  the  despairing, 
and  a nobler  incentive  to  every  soul — the  prophet 
of  a better  life;  all  these,  yes,  and  the  man  who 
digs  a drain,  or  sweeps  the  pavement,  or  cleans 
your  chimney,  or  shines  your  shoes,  or  curries  your 
horse — all  these  add  to  the  cleanliness,  the  com- 
fort, the  health  and  happiness  of  the  world;  con- 


Its  Meaning  fok  the  Fkee  Citizen.  207 

tributing  to  its  material,  intellectual,  sestbetic,  and 
moral  wealth.  Each  of  these  has  his  place,  and 
take  him  out  of  it,  society  would  suffer,  so  far 
forth,  an  absolute  loss. 

How  about  the  man  who  makes  a living  by  sell- 
ing liquor  ? Is  he,  too,  a producer  of  wealth  ? 
j Would  the  world  be  poorer  if  he  were  taken  out  of 
I it  ? Does  he,  too,  minister  to  human  comfort  and 
, plenty  and  happiness,  or  encourage  industry  and 
economy,  or  promote  skill,  or  foster  education  and 
religion,  or  offer  incentives  to  better  living  ? If 
so,  to  what  extent  ? Do  the  three  hundred  million 
dollars  which  the  liquor  trade  paid  last  year,  in 
I the  form  of  special  revenue  taxes,  licenses,  and 
^ fees  of  all  kinds,  national.  State,  and  local, — 
f which  represents  but  a portion  of  its  profits,  which, 
in  turn,  represent  but  a small  portion  of  its  in- 
come; are  these  three  hundred  million  dollars  to 
be  taken  as  but  a fractional  indication,  therefore, 
of  the  sum  total  of  services  which  the  liquor  trade 
contributed  to  the  well-being  of  this  country  dur- 
ing one  year  ? 

Ho;  these  millions  simply  represent  a portion 
of  the  money  that  the  saloon-keeper  received  from 


208  A Cefitjey  of  Dkink  Reform. 

^ the  people  who  bought  his  ware.  In  return  for  this 

money  he  set  before  them  beer,  wine,  whisky — al- 

S ft  ^ ^ ^ ^ 

I coholic  and  intoxicating  liquors,  which  ministered 

* to  no  human  necessity  or  comfort  or  well-being, 
but  to  an  acquired  and  perverted  appetite  only. 
ISTo  home  was  thereby  made  happier,  no  heart 
purer,  no  life  stronger.  The  saloon-keeper,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  he  works  early  and  late,  and 
sometimes  has  to  contend  with  beasts,  has  not 
earned  one  cent  of  his  money.  When  people  spend 
their  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  and  their 
labor  for  that  which  satisfies  not,  we  do  not  call 
this  a purchase  or  an  acquisition,  but  a waste  at 
best.  The  liquor  saloon  in  society  at  large  is  at 
best,  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  a vast  sewer 
into  which  the  flood  of  human  appetite  carries  each, 
year  millions  upon  millions  of  the  people’s  hard 
earned  money.  The  amount  which  society  receives 
in  taxes  and  license  fees  is  simply  that  small  por- 
tion which  has  been  saved  to  it  out  of  this  waste 
sewage,  the  largest  amount  that  the  avaricious  citi- 
zen, with  soiled  hands,  has  been  able  to  fish  out  of 
this  underground  stream. 

We  know  now  where  this  liquor  revenue  comes 


Its  MEAjrma  eok  the  Feee  Citizen.  209 

from,  this  magical  money  which  the  citizen  is  bid- 
den not  to  forget  on  election  day.  We  know  now 
who  contributes  all  this  money  that  makes  towns 
and  cities  and  governments  prosperous,  and  we 
know  pretty  well  how  much  the  citizen  gets  in  re- 
turn for  his  outlay.  Three  hundred  million  dol- 
lars is  approximately  Avhat  the  citizen,  by  every 
device  of  taxation  and  fines,  has  been  able  to 
save  out  of  this  drain. 

We  want  to  look  a little  more  closely  now,  to 
see  how  much  really  goes  in  there,  that  we  miy 
estimate  about  what  is  lost — absolutely  and  for- 
ever. Here  a man’s  senses  and  understanding  will 
fail  him.  When  the  United  States  official  reports 
give  out  the  information  that  in  the  course  of  a 
twelvemonth  more  than  one  hundred  million  proof 
gallons  (i.  e.,  fifty  per  cent  alcohol)  of  spirits  were 
Avithdrawn  for  consumption,  and  of  malt  liquors 
over  forty  million  barrels;  and  that,  besides  this, 
from  eight  to  ten  million  gallons  of  wines  and 
liquors  were  imported  from  other  countries ; be- 
sides the  total  production  of  native  wines,  which 
are  not  taxed,  and  the  products  of  illicit  distilling, 
of  which  a thousand  and  more  stills  are  seized 


14 


210 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


each  year  by  the  Governmeiit  officials ; these  figures 
become  simply  incomprehensible.  They  only  con- 
fuse the  mind  by  their  very  size,  and  leave  but  an 
indefinite  impression  of  vastness.  And  when  we 
read  that  the  people  of  our  land  pay  for  this  liquor, 
‘ as  their  yearly  drink  hill,  not  less  than  one  billion 
' dollars,  and  very  probably  nearer  a billion  and  a 
half,  every  object  of  man’s  knowledge  and  com- 
prehension dwindles  instantly  into  nothingmess ; 
the  perspective  is  lost,  and  man  murmurs  only  a 
weary,  half-indifferent,  half-incredulous  “large.” 

William  Hargreaves,  H.  D.,  of  Philadelphia, 
author  of  “Worse  than  Wasted,”  estimated  the 
drink  bill  of  the  United  States  for  1900  at  $1,465,- 
000,000.  He  explains  his  method  of  computation ; 
says  he  has  made  these  estimates  for  twenty  years, 
and  that  they  have  never  been  questioned ; that  he 
has  laid  them  before  gaugers  of  the  revenue  depart- 
ment, before  ex-saloon-keepers,  and  other  persons 
capable  of  judging,  and  they  agree  that  his  esti- 
mates are  as  nearly  correct  as  it  is  possible  to  make 
them.  He  insists  that  his  figures  are  conservative, 
below  rather  than  above  the  actual  cost.  We  will 
take  only  $1,200,000,000  here,  for  purposes  of 
comparison.  This  is  probably  on  the  safe  side. 


Its  Meaning  eok  the  Free  Citizen.  211 


We  will  now  place  an  object  or  two  in  tbe  fore- 
ground, that  we  may  better  judge  of  distance  and 
size.  The  public  school  system  of  our  land,  that 
best  exponent  of  democracy  and  greatest  factor  in 
our  national  assimilation, — for  every  dollar  that 
1 the  American  citizen  pays  in  taxes  for  public  edu- 
I cation  ($200,000,000),  he  pays  not  less  than  six 
I for  liquor.  Again,  the  United  States  of  America, 
I a country  vast  in  extent,  first  in  resources,  great  in 
achievement,  liberal  in  expenditure,  a world  power 
— the  total  expenditures  of  this  great  nation  for 
one  year  ($593,000,000  for  the  year  ending  June 
30,  1902),  covering  the  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  branches;  including  the  army,  the  navy, 
Indians,  pensions,  post-office,  interest  on  public 
debt,  and  every  other  last  item  and  source  of  ex- 
pense; these  liberal  expenditures  of  a liberal  gov- 
ernment, - which  the  citizens  do  not  always  con- 
tribute without  grumbling,  amount  to  just  about 
one-half  of  what  the  same  people  pay  out,  in  a like 
period,  for  strong  drink.  Subtracting,  now,  the 
$300,000,000  which  the  liquor  trade  pays  back  to 
the  people,  and  we  have  an  absolute  waste,  or  loss, 
of  $900,000,000  and  upwards;  one  billion  dollars, 
approximately. 


212 


A Centuey  of  Dkink  Refoeh. 


Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  this  vast  sum  rep- 
resents, at  its  best,  an  annual  waste  and  loss.  That 
the  money  is  not  sunk  into  the  ocean,  but  is  all 
kept  in  the  country,  does  not  make  it  one  whit 
I less  a waste  and  loss.  The  expenditure  has  brought 
j no  returns.  It  is  as  if  this  country  should  engage 
I half  a million  skilled  workmen,  set  them  at  mak- 
ing pianos  and  fine  furniture,  having  them  fur- 
nish their  own  materials,  and  pay  them  an  average 
of  two  thousand  dollars  a year  for  every  man; 
then  give  orders  that  each  night  the  entire  finished 
product  of  that  day’s  work  shall  be  burned  up. 
The  money  paid  for  this  work  all  stays  in  the 
country,  hut  it  brings  no  return.  It  represents 
destroyed  wealth. 

We  hear  much  in  our  country  about  the  large 
standing  armies  of  Europe.  We  are  taught  to  look 
upon  this  institution  as  a burden  and  a drain  upon 
the  productive,  honest  industries  of  a people.  Why 
a drain  and  a burden?  The  money  paid  out  for 
the  maintenance  of  standing  armies  all  stays  in 
the  country.  It  makes  business  for  the  gold  braid 
and  brass  button  industries,  the  gam  and  powder 
factories.  It  creates  model  cities  like  Essen,  and 


Its  Meaning  fok  the  Feee  Citizen.  213 

makes  Krupp  millionaires;  and  any  town  where 
soldiers  are  quartered  will  witness  lively  times. 
How  a drain,  then,  and  a burden  ? For  this  rea- 
. son:  the  taxpayer  gets  nothing  in  return  for  his 
I money,  except  perhaps  the  spectacle  of  imposing 
I field  maneuvers  and  splendid  sham  battles  an- 
' nually.  The  armies  eat  up  wealth  and  create  none. 

(They  do  n’t  make  their  own  living,  but  are  sup- 
ported by  the  country.  They  are  a burden,  there- 
fore, to  every  honest  toiler.  For  this  reason  the 
statement,  that  in  Europe  every  workman  carries 
a soldier  upon  his  back,  comes  not  far  from  being 
the  truth. 

Yet  the  United  States  could  better  afford  to 
support  a standing  army  of  a million  men,  gath- 
ering up  all  the  unemployed  and  relieving  every 
overcrowded  business  and  profession,  and  pay  each 
I man  an  average  of  a thousand  dollars  a year,  hav- 
I ing  him  out  of  this  sum  furnish  his  own  hoard, 
f clothes,  and  ammunition, — could  better  afford  to 
support  this  body  of  men,  and  keep  them  shooting 
at  targets,  than  it  can  afford  to  pay  a similar  sum 
to  a nearly  similar  number  who  now  spend  their 
time  and  labor  at  making  and  selling  liquor.  Each 


214  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

eats  up  the  same  amount  of  wealth  of  others’  toil ; 
neither  gives  anything  in  return ; with  this  much 
in  favor  of  the  army — it  would  at  least  leave  its 
supporters  sober,  probably  very  sober.  This  coun- 
try could  better  afford  to  support  in  absolute  idle- 
ness, as  lords  and  gentlemen,  the  200,000  men  who 
run  retail  liquor  establishments  in  our  land,  pay- 
ing them  $5,000  a year,  each,  the  salary  of  a 
United  States  Senator,  than  it  can  afford  to  pay 
the  same  sum  to  these  same  men,  as  it  now  does, 
for  selling  strong  drink.  Out  of  the  money  now 
spent  for  liquor,  our  Government  could  buy  out, 
every  twelvemonth,  the  entire  wine,  spirit,  and 
malt  liquor  industry  of  the  coimtry,  using  land 
and  buildings  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and 
have  a number  of  millions  left  besides. 

We  have  in  each  instance  said  that  our  nation 
could  better  afford  to  do  these  things.  The  imme- 
diate money  transaction  would  be  the  same.  But 
while  the  citizen  who  supports  a lord  or  soldier  in 
idleness  is  out  of  so  much  money,  he  has  himself 
left  yet.  He  can  still  work  and  produce  more 
wealth.  But  when  the  citizen  pays  out  his  money 
for  liquor,  while  his  money  is  gone — an  absolute 
loss  to  him — that  is  not  all ; (and  we  are  not  speak- 


Its  Meaning  eoe  the  Fkee  Citizen.  215 


/ ing  of  health  or  manhood  or  morals  now,  but  just 
I of  money  and  material  wealth.)  The  man  gets 
drunk,  say,  and  for  the  time  being  at  least  is  not 
able  to  work.  The  value  of  so  much  of  labor  is 
I lost.  Or  because  of  drunkenness  he  loses  his  place 
, and  is  altogether  without  work.  The  wealth  that 
his  labor  might  have  produced  is  totally  lost,  an 
. absolute  loss  to  himself  and  to  society.  He  eats 
' up  and  does  nothing.  Or  because  of  drinking  he 
becomes  sick  and  thus  loses  his  labor;  or  becomes 
a pauper  and  a public  charge.  Or  he  becomes  con- 
tentious as  the  very  common  result  of  drinking, 
and  destroys  property  or  commits  assault,  perhaps 
a crime,  even  murder.  Then  society  employs  offi- 
fcers  to  catch  him;  pays  a lawyer,  judge,  jurors, 
/ and  witnesses  to  try  him ; builds  a penitentiary  to 
receive  him;  pays  out  money  to  feed  him,  a war- 
den, a chaplain,  and  attendants  to  look  after  him. 
Or  the  man,  as  the  result  of  drink,  becomes  a 
maniac,  and  society  builds  an  asylum  for  him  to 
live  in,  and  pays  out  money  to  feed  and  keep  him. 
Or  he  begets  an  imbecile  child,  or  by  neglect  and 
example  rears  one  to  crime,  or  his  family  to  pau- 
perism; and  society  cares  for  them  all. 


216  A Centuey  of  Dkiistk  Refoem. 

Add  up,  if  you  can,  the  entire  criminal  budget 
of  the  country — tbe  whole  police  machinery,  court 
expenses,  prisons,  everything,  for  one  year — and 
take  one-half  of  this  as  representing  probably  at 
the  very  least  the  cost  of  liquor’s  aftermath  in 
crime  and  disorder,  either  immediately  or  re- 
motely; find  the  total  amount  expended  each  year 
in  charity,  privately  and  by  the  State,  and  the 
cost  of  our  almshouses,  and  of  the  asylums,  public 
and  private,  for  the  insane, — and  take  of  these 
figures  from  one-fourth  to  one-third,  as  represent- 
ing the  amount  traceable,  immediately  or  remotely 
to  the  drinking  habits  of  the  nation;  take  these 
figures,  together  with  the  money  value  of  labor  lost 
and  labor  misdirected  as  the  result  of  liquor,  and 
add  to  them  the  one  billion  dollars  spent  annually, 
above  all  license  fees  received  in  return,  for  liqnor, 
and  you  will  arrive  with  some  degree  of  approxi- 
mation at  the  yearly  cash  account  of  the  drink 
trade  with  society. ' 

If  it  is  true  that  in  a country  with  a large 
standing  army  every  honest  workman  carries  a 
soldier  upon  his  back,  it  is  no  less  true  that  in  a 
conntry  with  the  public  saloon  system  every  Jion- 


Its  Meaning  for  the  Tree  Citizen.  217 

estly  toiling  citizen  carries  upon  liis  back  either 
a brewer,  distiller,  or  barkeeper,  a pauper,  an 
idiot,  a maniac,  a murderer,  a policeman,  or  a 
criminal  lawyer : and  some  of  these  are  heavy. 

Verily,  the  clink  of  the  license  money  as  it 
Jrops  into  the  public  cash-box  has  charmed  the 
i citizen  with  a fascination  akin  to  that  with  which 
Uhe  magician’s  coin  charms  the  rustic  at  the  fair. 
So  sure  was  the  latter  that  he  would  have  staked 
his  very  soul  upon  the  guess,  when  behold!  the 
coin  was  under  the  other  hat. 

An  old  farmer  of  the  writer’s  acquaintance, 
now  gone  to  his  reward,  once  took  a load  of  hogs 
to  market.  As  the  wagon  stood  upon  the  buyer’s 
scales,  and  the  attention  of  the  buyer  was  for  a 
moment  diverted,  the  old  farmer  reached  over  and 
gave  the  balance  weight  a smart  turn.  The  buyer, 
pretending  not  to  have  noticed  it,  proceeded  to 
weigh  the  hogs,  and  when  the  farmer  drove  off 
thought  he  would  adjust  his  scales,  to  see  out  of 
how  much  he  had  been  cheated.  He  found  that 
the  farmer  had  turned  the  weight  the  wrong  way! 
He  had  been  willing  and  anxious  to  barter  his 
conscience  for  a few  pounds  of  pork,  but — bad 


218  A Centuey  of  Deine;  Eefoem. 

bargain  that  it  was — be  was  not  bright  enough ; he 
was  cheated  even  at  that.  This  man  carried  with 
him  into  his  grave  this  confident,  two-fold  delu- 
sion : first,  that  no  one  ever  knew  of  his  tampering 
with  the  scales ; and  secondly,  that  he  made  money 
by  the  transaction. 


C.  EDUCATION. 

219 


CHAPTEE  VII. 


Mokal  Movements  Since  the  War. 

We  paused  in  our  narrative  at  the  year  1862, 
the  year  in  which  the  Internal  Eevenue  Act  was 
passed,  to  consider  the  principle  and  policy  of 
liquor  taxation  in  its  effect,  first,  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment; secondly,  upon  the  liquor  trade;  and 
thirdly,  upon  the  free  citizen.  This  necessarily 
led  us  on,  to  take  into  account  those  main  facts 
of  subsequent  and  recent  history  which  pertained 
to  these  particular  phases  of  our  subject.  We  will 
now  go  hack  and  see  what  form  and  direction  the 
temperance  sentiment  of  the  country  took  in  the 
meantime. 

The  Civil  War  was  a great  destroyer.  It 
blighted  in  fairest  blossom  time  the  promised 
fruits  of  the  maturing  temperance  reformation. 
A dozen  States  had  expressed  themselves  for  ab- 
solute prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic.  Others 
had  adopted  this  policy  in  partial  form,  and  every- 
221 


222  A Centuky  oe  Dkenk  Refoem, 


where  sentiment  was  strong  and  growing.  Tem- 
'perance  societies  of  many  kinds  and  names  had 
been  active  and  increasing  in  numhers  and 
strength.  The  progress  of  the  reform  seemed  ir- 
resistible, and  its  culmination  inevitable. 

When  the  smoke  of  battle  cleared  away  the 
aspect  was  changed.  Temperance  work  had  been 
I paralyzed,  and  temperance  societies  impoverished 
of  membership.  Row  after  the  long  night  watches, 

' when  the  tension  of  fearful  anxiety  was  relieved  by 
the  matin  bells  of  peace,  came  the  repose  of  weari- 
ness. All  life  and  interest  that  remained  was  di- 
verted to  other  channels — reconstruction  and  citi- 
zenship, problems  arising  out  of  emancipation  and 
rebellion.  Besides,  during  the  night  the  enemy 
had  arisen.  He  had  entered  a compact,  and  had 
gone  out  to  destroy.  A plan  to  do  away  with  all 
existing  prohibitory  laws  had  been  set  on  foot  by 
him.  For  the  first  time,  it  seemed,  he  at  once 
fully  recognized  his  danger  and  his  opportunity. 
In  addition  to  all  this,  the  home-coming  soldier, 
with  the  demoralizing  influence  of  camp  life  upon 
him,  helped  no  little  to  undo  what  had  been  ac- 
complished before  the  war  for  sobriety. 


Moral  Movements  Since  the  War.  223 


I 


1.  Temperance  interest  had,  however,  not 
been  wholly  inactive  even  during  the  war,  and  was 
by  no  means  dead.  Following  immediately  upon 
the  close  of  the  war,  in  the  summer  of  1865,  a 
fifth  Ilational  Temperance  Convention  was  held 
at  Saratoga,  fourteen  years  after  a last  similar 
gathering  had  convened.  (The  first  ISTational 
Temperance  Convention,  it  will  be  remembered, 
met  in  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1833.)  This  con- 
vention was  conspicuous  by  the  absence  of  the 
heroes  of  earlier  temperance  battles.  Justin  Ed- 
wards, mightiest  organizer  and  leader  in  the  early 
reform,  had  passed  to  his  reward.  So  had  Gov- 
ernor Briggs,  fine  type  of  man  and  public  servant ; 
and  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  senator,  states- 
man, college  president,  friend  of  every  cause  of 
religion  and  humanity.  Lyman  Beecher,  too,  at 
the  ripe  age  of  eighty-seven,  had  laid  his  armor 
by;  so  also  had  President  Hitchcock,  of  Amherst, 
than  whom  few  had  done  more  in  the  cause;  and 
Rear  Admiral  Alexander  H.  Foote,  one  of  the 
first  to  introduce  temperance  into  the  navy;  and 
Robert  Baird,  who  personally  planted  the  seeds  of 
temperance  over  northern  Europe  in  the  early  day. 


224  A Ceettuky  of  Dkiftk  Refokm. 

Lastly,  and  recently,  Lincoln  had  been  taken, 
whose  example  and  influence  had  been  a pillar 
of  strength  to  the  cause.  The  country  had  not  yet 
recovered  from  the  shock  of  his  death.  Walworth, 
Pierpont,  Delavan,  and  Marsh  were  still  present, 
but  only  themselves  soon  to  follow. 

At  this  convention  325  delegates  were  present 
from  twenty-five  States,  representing  the  Churches 
and  the  various  temperance  organizations.  Gov- 
ernor Buckingham,  of  Connecticut,  presided. 
During  a two-days’  conference  papers  were  read 
on  important  toitics  by  Rev.  Dr.  Chickering,  of 
Boston;  Rev.  W.  W.  ISTewell,  of  Rew  York;  James 
Black,  of  Pennsylvania;  and  by  Dr.  Charles  Jew- 
ett. It  was  resolved  to  form  both  a national  tem- 
perance society,  and  a national  publication-house; 
the  former  to  concentrate  all  the  temperance  forces 
of  the  land  by  bringing  together  the  different  tem- 
perance orders  and  associations,  the  latter  to  pre- 
pare and  circulate  sound  temperance  literature. 
James  Black  was  the  moving  spirit  in  the  latter 
organization.  Separate  committees  were  ap- 
pointed ; but  the  two  branches  of  work  were  united, 
and  by  fall  The  National  Temperance  Society  and 


Mokal  Movements  Since  the  War,  225 


Publication-house  was  formed.  The  American 
Temperance  Union,  organized  in  Saratoga,  at  the 
second  national  temperance  convention,  in  1836, 
jwas  now  merged  in  the  new  organization,  and 
fceased  to  be.  The  basis  of  the  new  society  was, 
/total  abstinence  for  the  individual,  and  total  pro- 
jf  hibition  for  the  State.  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge, 
merchant  prince,  member  of  Congress,  Indian  com- 
missioner, Christian  philanthropist,  became  the 
first  president  of  the  society,  and  J.  H.  Stearns,  a 
man  of  experience  and  clear  vision,  became  its 
efficient  corresponding  secretary  and  publishing 
agent. 

This  new  society  was  destined  to  fill  a large 
place  in  the  work  of  temperance  reform.  With- 
out affiliation  of  party  or  sect,  but  embracing  all, 
it  was  to  become  a sort  of  large  temperance  uni- 
versity, devoting  itself  specifically  to  publishing 
and  circulating  effective  temperance  literature  in 
schools,  hospitals,  jails,  etc.,  and  among  the  people 
generally,  including  the  freedmen  of  the  South. 
The  society  has  also  given  effectual  aid  in  prohibi- 
tory campaigns,  sending  out  speakers  and  mission- 
aries in  the  reform,  and  drafting  and  urging  legis- 
16 


226  A Cejsttuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

lative  measures.  To  this  society  more  than  to  any 
other  one  agency  has  been  due  the  rehabilitation 
of  temperance  sentiment  since  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War. 

2.  In  1869  a few  zealous  temperance  workers 
in  the  city  of  BufPalo,  ivho  were  members  of  the 
Order  of  Good  Templars,  the  Sons  of  Temperance, 
'and  the  Templars  of  Honor  and  Temperance,  hav- 

' ing  tried  to  secure  the  enforcement  of  the  Sunday 

i . . 

law  against  liquor-selling,  and  failed,  became  con- 
vinced that  the  people  were  not  willing  to  give  this 
question  their  serious  thought  and  support,  and 
that  public  sentiment  must  be  created  in  favor  of 
law  enforcement,  backed  by  the  moral  and  relig- 
ious elements  of  the  community.  To  this  end  they 
launched  a new  order,  the  Royal  Templars  of  Tem- 
perance. 

This  was  not  intended  to  be  a rival  of  other 
temperance  orders,  but  with  a distinct  mission  in 
educational  rather  than  reformatory  lines.  Its 
object  is  thus  stated:  “To  labor  unceasingly  for 
the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  temperance,  morally, 
socially,  religiously,  and  politically.”  Xo  special 
efforts  were  made  to  spread  the  order  until,  in 


Mokal  Movements  Since  the  Wab.  227 


1877,  it  was  reorganized  on  a beneficiary  basis. 
Its  prosperity  since  then  has  been  mainly  due  to 
this  change. 

\ 3.  On  February  22,  1872,  the  Catholic  Total 

i Abstinence  Union  of  America  was  formed  in  Bal- 

Itimore,  by  representatives  of  Catholic  total  absti- 
nence societies  from  about  a dozen  States.  Some 
I of  these  temperance  societies  had  been  in  existence 
since  the  days  of  Father  Mathew’s  visit  to  America. 
There  had  been  no  bond  of  union  between  them, 
however,  until  1871,  when  the  societies  of  Con- 
necticut formed  a State  Union.  This  suggested 
the  idea  of  a general  Union,  and  culminated  in  the 
meeting  at  Baltimore. 

After  the  adoption  of  a constitution  an  address 
was  issued  to  the  Catholics  of  America.  Rev. 
James  McDevitt,  of  Washington,  was  elected  the 
first  president  of  the  Union,  and  B.  J.  O’Driscoll, 
of  the  same  city,  its  secretary.  The  pledge  of  the 
Fnion  reads  as  follows : “I  promise,  with  Divine 
assistance  and  in  honor  of  the  sacred  thirst  and 
agony  of  our  Savior,  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicat- 
ing drinks ; to  prevent  as  much  as  possible,  by  ad- 
vice and  example,  the  sin  of  intemperance  in 


228  A Centuky  of  Deikk  Reform. 

others ; and  to  discountenance  the  drinking  cus- 
toms of  society.”  Subordinate  branches,  State  and 
diocesan  Unions  soon  began  to  be  formed.  The 
laim  of  the  Union  has  been  to  establish  a total  ab- 
fstinence  society  in  every  parish  throughout  the 
land.  Through  this  organization  much  has  been 
given  in  relief  to  the  poor  and  suffering,  and  halls 
have  been  built,  reading-rooms  and  libraries  es- 
tablished as  counter  attractions  to  the  saloon. 
Through  the  labors,  chiefly,  of  the  Philadelphia 
Union,  a magnificent  fountain  "svas  erected  in  Pair- 
mount  Park  of  that  city,  and  on  July  4,  1876,  in 
the  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  it 
was  dedicated  to  American  liberty. 

The  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  has  re- 
ceived the  approval  of  the  Plenary  Coimcil  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  America,  and  the  commenda- 
tion and  blessing  of  the  Holy  Pather,  the  late  Pope 
Leo  XIII.  Many  of  the  foremost  men  of  the 
Church,  both  among  the  clergy  and  the  laity,  are 
giving  their  active  support  to  the  Union  and  to 
the  cause  of  temperance.  The  practice  of  the  bulk 
of  the  Church,  however,  with  respect  to  temper- 
ance, leaves  yet  much  to  be  desired. 


Mokal  Movements  Since  the  Wae.  229 


4.  In  1881  the  Church  Temperance  Society  i 
J/  was  formed  in  ISTew  York  City.  This  is  the  tern-  I 
perance  organization  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  Its  object,  as  stated  in  the  constitution,  ^ 
is  threefold : to  promote  temperance ; to  rescue  the 
intemperate ; to  remove  the  causes  of  intemper- 
ance. As  agencies  for  accomplishing  these  results 
it  employs  (1)  the  Gospel;  (2)  coffee-houses,  as 
counteractives  of  the  saloon;  (3)  improved  dwell- 
ings for  the  poor;  (4)  healthy  literature. 

One  peculiar  feature  of  this  society  is  that  it 
is  the  only  temperance  organization  that  does  not 
now  stand  upon  unconditional  total  abstinence. 
Its  basis  is  defined  in  these  words : “Recognizing 
temperance  as  the  law  of  the  Gospel,  and  total  ab- 
stinence as  a rule  of  conduct  essential  in  certain 
cases  and  highly  desirable  in  others,  and  fully  and 
freely  according  to  every  man  the  right  to  decide, 
in  the  exercise  of  his  Christian  liberty,  whether  or 
not  he  will  adopt  said  rule,  this  society  lays  down 
as  a basis  on  which  it  rests  and  from  which  its 
work  shall  be  conducted,  union  and  co-operation  on 
perfectly  equal  terms  for  the  promotion  of  tem- 
perance between  those  who  use  temperately  and 


230  A Cesttuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

those  who  abstain  entirely  from  intoxicating 
drinks  as  beverages.” 

Restriction  rather  than  prohibition  is  the  aim 
of  the  society,  with  reference  to  the  traffic  in  liquor 
— stopping  the  sale  on  Sundays,  to  minors,  and  to 
drunkards ; witl^  high  license  and  local  option. 
The  control  of  the  society  is  under  an  executive 
board  and  the  bishops  of  the  Church.  Robert 
Graham  has  been  its  efficient  secretary  from  the 
beginning.  The  society  aims  ultimately  to  estab- 
lish a branch  society  in  every  diocese,  and  a paro- 
chial society  in  every  parish. 

5.  The  Reform  Clubs  and  Gospel  Temper- 
ance. 

The  first  Reform  Club  was  formed  at  Gardiner, 
Maine,  on  January  19,  1872.  The  chief  agent  in 
its  formation  was  Mr.  I.  K.  Osgood,  a man  once 
successful  as  a merchant,  but  brought  to  ruin  by 
drink.  Coming  home  late  one  night,  on  approach- 
ing the  house  he  could  see  his  wife  through  the 
window,  as  she  sat  in  her  wretched  home  waiting 
for  him.  He  resolved  then  and  there,  that  by  the 
help  of  God  he  would  never  drink  again.  After 
several  months  he  induced  another  to  sign  the 


Moral  Movements  Since  the  War.  231 


pledge.  They  then  called  a meeting  on  the  day 
mentioned  above,  inviting  the  public,  and  espe- 
cially drunkards,  to  come  and  hear  -what  rum  had 
done  for  them.  Eight  drinking  companions  signed 
the  pledge  that  night,  and  the  first  Reform  Club 
was  started.  The  movement  attracted  attention 
and  spread  to  other  cities,  and  clubs  multiplied 
through  the  State  and  in  other  States  by  the  labors 
of  Osgood  and  his  converts. 

A larger  work,  of  a similar  kind,  was  that 
started  by  Dr.  Henry  A.  Reynolds,  of  Bangor, 
Maine.  Reynolds  was  a graduate  of  the  Harvard 
Medical  School,  had  served  as  surgeon  in  the  Civil 
War,  and  was  a practicing  physician  in  Bangor, 
and — a drunkard.  He  had  tried  several  times  to 
break  off,  but  in  vain.  A band  of  women  wei’e 
holding  a prayer-meeting  in  that  city;  he  went  to 
the  meeting  and  signed  the  pledge.  At  once  he 
tried  to  help  others  like  himself.  He  conceived 
the  plan  of  a reform  club  made  up  of  drinking 
men  only.  He  gave  notice  of  a meeting  of  drink- 
ing men,  and  the  Bangor  Reform  Club  was  or- 
ganized on  September  10,  1874.  With  true  mis- 
sionary spirit  others  were  brought  in,  and  the  mem- 


232  A Centtjky  of  Deink  Refokm. 

bership  grew  rapidly.  Excitement  spread.  Be- 
lieving  he  had  a call  of  God  to  this  work,  Dr.  Rey- 
I nolds  gave  up  his  profession  and  devoted  himself 
r to  the  reform.  In  one  year  forty-five  thousand 
I men  had  been  gathered  into  Reform  Clubs  in  the 
State  of  Maine.  Reynolds  then  went  into  Massa- 
chusetts, and  extended  his  labors  westward  into 
Illinois,  Michigan,  and  other  States.  The  badge 
of  the  movement  was  a red  ribbon,  worn  by  the  re- 
formed drinker,  so  that  the  clubs  became  known  as 
the  Red  Ribbon  Reform  Clubs.  Others  also  en- 
tered into  the  work.  In  1877,  John  B.  Einch,  one 
of  the  most  knightly,  energetic,  and  invincible  men 
that  ever  donned  armor  in  the  great  reform,  lec- 
tured in  Nebraska  in  the  interests  of  the  Red  Rib- 
bon movement,  securing  a hundred  thousand  signa- 
tures to  the  pledge. 

Of  much  the  same  character  as  the  Reynolds 
Refonn  Club  movement  was  the  work  started  by 
, Erancis  Murphy,  at  about  this  same  time,  and 
knonm  as  the  Blue  Ribbon  movement.  Murphy 
was  in  prison  in  the  city  of  Portland,  for  drunk- 
enness. He  had  ruined  himself,  and  brought  rags 
and  shame  to  his  family,  through  drink.  While 
in  prison  he  was  visited  by  Captain  Cyrus  Stur- 


lIoEAL  Movements  Since  the  War.  233 


devant,  a Christian  gentleman,  and  was  induced 
to  attend  religious  service.  Murphy  made  a re- 
solve with  God’s  help  to  walk  in  a better  way. 
While  yet  in  prison  he  tried  to  save  others  from 
drink.  He  started  in  as  a lecturer  in  Portland. 
Being  well  received  he  went  elsewhere,  and  his 
power  grew.  Laboring  first  through  the  adjoin- 
ing States,  he  turned  westward,  and  soon  the  coun- 
try became  his  field.  The  winter  of  1876-77  wit- 
nessed a remarkable  work  in  Pittsburg.  There 
were  over  sixty  thousand  signatures  to  the  pledge, 
and  more  than  five  hundred  saloons  in  Allegheny 
and  neighboring  counties  closed  up  for  want  of 
business.  From  there  Murphy  went  to  Philadel- 
phia, where  the  results  were  nearly  equally  great. 
The  Murphy  meetings,  which  were  continued  for 
years  after,  were  characterized  by  great  fervor  and 
power.  But  the  work  was  not  closely  organized, 
and  the  results  were  not  as  permanent  and  far- 
reaching  as  they  might  have  been,  on  that  account. 
The  blue  ribbon,  which  Murphy  had  adopted  as 
the  badge  of  abstinence,  was  introduced  into  Eng- 
land in  1878,  when  a similar  work  to  that  of  Mur- 
phy and  Reynolds  was  started  there. 


234  A Centtjkt  of  Deink  T?F.FnE>r. 

6,  At  the  close  of  1873  there  occurred  a new, 
and  in  some  respects  the  most  striking,  phenome- 
non in  the  whole  history  of  temperance  reform — 
an  uprising  of  women.  The  'Womans  Crusade. 

To  the  outside  world  this  crusade  appeared 
like  a kind  of  second  reign  of  terror,  the  crusaders 
being  likened  to  the  French  women  who  filled  the 
streets  of  Paris,  an  angry  mob,  during  those  awful 
days  of  the  French  Revolution.  In  fact,  however, 
the  women  of  this  crusade  were  persons  of  highest 
Christian  character  and  culture,  wives  and  daugh- 
ters of  governors,  judges,  clergymen,  and  of  the 
leading  professional  and  business  men.  Their 
weapons  were  not  those  of  carnal  warfare,  hut  of 
the  Spirit  of  the  living  God — song,  prayer,  en- 
treaty-— mighty  to  the  pulling  down  of  the  strong- 
holds of  sin.  In  its  intensity  and  contagion  the 
crusade  reminded  one  of  the  Wasliingtonian  move- 
ment, begun  in  Baltimore  in  1840.  Only  the  lat- 
ter was  entirely  divorced  from  religion,  while  the 
cursade  was  the  soul  of  religion  itself.  Then  men 
— reformed  men — appealed  to  men  as  brothers  to 
cease  drinking ; now  women — ^mothers,  wives, 
daughters — appealed  to  the  saloon-keeper  to  cease 


Moeal  Movements  Since  the  Wae,  235 


selling.  The  anguish  of  a woman’s  heart,  upon 
whom  the  evils  of  the  saloon  always  fall  with  most 
cruel  and  crushing  weight,  must  now  at  last  find 
expression.  The  wonder  is  that  she  had  repressed 
her  woe  so  long. 

The  crusade  broke  out  in  Hillsboro,  a college 
town  in  southwestern  Ohio,  on  the  day  before 
Christmas,  1873.  Dr.  Dio  Lewis,  in  a temperance 
I lecture  the  night  before,  had  related  how  his 
mother  with  a few  friends  had,  by  prayer,  pre- 
vailed against  a saloon  that  had  ruined  her  home ; 
and  he  declared  that  the  saloons  could  he  closed 
in  this  way  if  women  had  only  grace  and  courage 
and  persistency  enough.  By  a rising  vote  this  idea 
was  to  be  carried  at  once  into  execution.  The 
names  of  seventy-five  ladies  of  standing  and  in- 
fluence were  enrolled.  A meeting  was  appointed 
^ for  the  next  morning  at  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
I At  this  meeting  a conunittee  was  appointed  to 
; draft  an  appeal  to  liquor-sellers.  Mrs.  Eliza  J. 

’ Thompson,  the  wife  of  a judge  and  the  daughter 
of  an  ex-governor,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
undertaking.  She  became  the  leader  and  the 
mother  of  the  crusade.  Before  going  to  this  morn- 


236  A Century  of  Drink  Keform, 


ing  meeting,  her  daughter  had  opened  her  Bible  at 
the  146th  Psalm,  and  feeling  its  peculiar  appro- 
priateness, she  told  her  mother  that  she  believed  it 
was  especially  intended  for  her.  This  psalm  be- 
came the  battle-hymn  of  the  crusade.  After  prayer 
and  organization,  the  women  filed  out  of  church, 
two  by  two,  and  singing  “Give  to  the  winds  thy 
fears,”  they  proceeded  to  the  first  dramseller. 
Every  morning  during  the  winter  and  spring  these 
meetings  of  prayer  were  held;  every  saloon  was 
visited,  and  nearly  all  were  closed. 

The  night  following  his  address  at  Hillsboro, 
Dr.  Dio  Lewis  spoke  at  Washington  Court  House, 
another  toivn  in  southwestern  Ohio.  Here,  too,  a 
praying  band  was  formed.  The  appeal  with  which 
these  women  went  forth  was  as  follows — the  form 
generally  used  later:  “Knowing,  as  you  do,  the 
fearful  effects  of  intoxicating  drinks,  we,  the 
women  of  Washington  Court  House,  after  earnest 
prayer  and  deliberation  have  decided  to  appeal  to 
you  to  desist  from  the  ruinous  traffic,  that  our  hus- 
bands and  brothers,  and  especially  onr  sons,  be  no 
longer  exposed  to  this  terrible  temptation,  and  that 
we  may  no  longer  see  them  led  into  paths  which 
go  down  to  sin  and  bring  both  body  and  soul  to 


Moral  Movements  Since  the  War.  237 

destruction.  We  appeal  to  tlie  better  instincts  of 

I your  heart,  in  the  name  of  desolate  homes,  blasted 
hopes,  ruined  lives,  vridovred  hearts,  for  the  honor 
of  our  community,  for  our  happiness,  for  the  good 
> name  of  our  town,  in  the  name  of  God  who  will 
judge  you  and  us,  for  the  sake  of  your  own  souls 
Avhich  are  to  be  saved  or  lost.  We  beg,  we  implore 
you  to  cleanse  yourselves  from  this  heinous  sin, 
and  place  yourselves  in  the  ranks  of  those  ivho  are 
striving  to  elevate  and  ennoble  themselves  and 
their  fellow-men.  And  to  this  we  ask  you  to  pledge 
yourselves.” 

Thus  panoplied  the  band  went  forth  the  morn- 
ing after  Christmas,  while  others  remained  at 

(church  to  pray,  and  while  the  church  bell  kept  toll- 
ing, telling  to  all  the  community  that  concerted 
I prayer  and  appeal  were  moiung  against  the  saloons 
' in  their  midst.  Where  admittance  was  denied 
them,  the  women  knelt  in  the  snow  on  the  pave- 
ment. The  second  day  witnessed  the  first  surren- 
, der,  by  a saloon-keeper,  of  his  entire  stock  of 
liquor;  and  on  the  second  of  January  it  was  an- 
nounced at  a great  mass-meeting  that  the  last 
liquor-dealer  had  unconditionally  surrendered. 


238  A Centuky  of  Deink  Refoem. 

This  movement,  thus  begun,  spread  like  wild- 
fire. It  covei’ed  the  ISTorth  Central  States,  crossed 
the  Mississippi,  swept  through  Iowa,  Missouri, 
Kansas,  and  up  into  California  and  Oregon.  East- 
ward it  swept  to  the  Atlantic.  Its  influence  went 
out  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  land,  even  to  the 
islands  of  the  sea.  In  Ohio,  the  storm  center  of 
the  movement,  and  where  ‘‘Mother”  Stewart  be- 
came one  of  its  foremost  leaders,  it  was  said  that 
in  two  hundred  and  fifty  towns  the  saloons  had 
been  closed  as  the  result  of  the  crusade. 

This  blaze  of  enthusiasm  was  as  brief  as  it  had 
been  intense.  After  that,  what?  This:  crystal- 
lization, organization.  It  led  directly  to  the  for- 
mation of  that  noble  body  of  cultured,  consecrated 
women,  the  largest  number  ever  banded  together 
in  the  cause  of  humanity,  and  the  most  potent  per- 
sonal agency,  perhaps,  in  the  annals  of  the  reform, 
namely — 

7.  The  Womans  Christian  Temperance 
Union. 

This  organization  was  effected  at  a conven- 
tion held  in  Cleveland,  on  Kovember  18,  IST-l. 
During  the  preceding  August,  at  Chautauqua, 


Moral  Movements  Since  the  War.  239 


New  York,  it  was  agreed  by  a few  earnest  women 
that  tbe  fruits  of  the  crusade  must  be  gathered  up. 
A temperance  prayer-meeting  was  called,  to  which 
about  fifty  women  responded  and  were  present. 
At  this  meeting,  over  which  Mrs.  Jennie  F.  Will- 
ing presided  and  Mrs.  Emily  Huntington  Miller 
acted  as  secretary,  it  was  voted  to  send  out  a call 
to  all  temperance  organizations  composed  of 
women,  to  hold  conventions  in  their  respective 
States  and  send  delegates  to  a national  convention 
to  be  held  in  Cleveland,  as  before  mentioned. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-five  delegates,  from 
more  than  a dozen  States,  responded  to  this  call. 
An  organization  was  effected,  a plan  of  work 
adopted,  and  the  following  were  elected  as  the 
first  officers  of  the  Union : President,  Mrs.  Annie 
Wittenmyer,  of  Pennsylvania;  corresponding  sec- 
retary, Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,  of  Illinois;  re- 
cording secretary,  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Johnson,  of  New 
York;  treasurer,  Mrs.  Mary  B.  Ingham,  of  Ohio. 
An  appeal  was  sent  out  ‘‘to  the  women  of  the  great 
nations”  for  their  co-operation,  and  a plan  inau- 
gurated to  appeal  to  the  President,  to  Senators  and 
Members  of  Congress,  to  Governors,  and  to  all  in 


240  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

authority,  to  lend  the  weight  of  their  influence  to 
the  temperance  cause. 

Thus,  in  the  flres  of  that  soul  affliction  which 
I welded  together  at  white  heat  the  anguished  hearts 
[ of  womankind  in  the  crusade,  did  this  organiza- 
tion receive  its  baptism.  This  sacramental  bless- 
ing was  never  lost.  It  was  to  give  to  that  body  a 
patience  and  persistence,  a consecration  so  gen- 
uine, a courage  so  undaunted,  methods  so  practical 
and  appealing,  as  had  never  before  been  known. 
A resolution  placed  on  record  at  the  very  organiza- 
tion of  this  .body  reveals  the  spirit  that  handed 
these  women  together : “That  recognizing  the  fact 
that  our  cause  will  be  combated  by  mighty,  deter- 
mined, and  relentless  forces,  we  will,  trusting  in 
Him  Avho  is  the  Prince  of  Peace,  meet  argument 
Avith  argument,  mis  judgment  with  patience,  de- 
nunciation Avith  kindness,  and  all  our  difficulties 
and  dangers  with  prayer.”  The  badge  of  the 
Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  is  a small 
bow  of  white  ribbon;  its  motto,  “Por  God  and 
home  and  native  land;”  its  pledge,  “I  solemnly 
promise,  God  helping  me,  to  abstain  from  all  dis- 
tilled, fermented,  and  malt  liquors,  including 


Moeal  Movements  Since  the  Wae.  241 


wine,  beer,  and  cider,  and  to  employ  all  proper 
means  to  discourage  the  use  of,  and  traffic  in,  the 
same.” 

One  of  the  prominent  features  in  the  early 
work  of  the  Union  was  saloon  visiting.  It  was 
soon  learned,  however,  that  the  saloon  is  but  an 
outpost  of  the  enemy;  that  the  real  enemy  lay  in 
, the  rear  and  out  of  sight,  entrenched  behind  breast- 
i works  of  appetite  and  avarice,  ignorance,  and  in- 
difference, of  wrong  customs  and  false  ideals,  of 
law  and  politics.  More  emphasis  was  therefore 
laid  on  the  larger  plan  of  work.  There  must  be 
counter-attractions  and  substitutes  for  the  saloon 
I — coffee-houses,  social  rooms,  and  the  like,  pure 
fwater  fountains,  homes  for  the  inebriate,  instruc- 
tion for  the  young  in  church  and  school.  The 
press  must  be  utilized,  literature  distributed,  lec- 
turers and  evangelists  and  missionaries  sent  out, 
and  bodies  in  authority,  in  Church  and  State, 
memorialized  to  lend  the  weight  of  their  influence 
to  the  cause,  in  the  promotion  of  right  sentiment 
and  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of  right  laws. 
In  order  better  to  accomplish  this  larger  and  varied 
work,  the  committee  plan  was  changed,  in  1880, 
16 


242  A Centuey  of  Dkink  REroKii. 

into  the  department  plan  of  work — organization, 
preventive,  educational,  evangelistic,  social,  and 
legal — with  a capable  and  responsible  person  at 
the  head  of  each  department  as  superintendent. 
Under  each  of  these  six  departments  are  a number 
of  sub-departments,  with  superintendents.  To 
this  plan  of  organization  has  been  due,  in  no  small 
measure,  the  success  of  the  Union  in  the  various 
spheres  of  its  activity.  The  Union  Signal,  an 
able  paper  published  in  Chicago,  is  the  official 
organ  of  the  National  Union. 

Urom  its  beginning  the  Woman’s  Christian 
Temperance  Union  has  had  a large  place  in  its 
program  for  work  among  the  yoimg.  Juvenile  or- 
ganizations were  formed  under  the  auspices  of 
local  unions,  and  auxiliary  to  them,  in  the  various 
States.  They  bore  different  names,  such  as  Juve- 
nile Unions,  Bands  of  Hope,  Cold  Water  Armies, 
True  Blue  Cadets,  Cadets  of  Temperance,  and 
Loyal  Legions.  LTany  of  these  had  been  in  exist- 
ence for  many  years  before.  In  1886  a uniform 
plan  of  organization  was  adopted,  and  a unifonn 
name,  the  Loyal  Temperance  Legion,  with  a na- 
tional superintendent  at  its  head. 

Through  the  efforts  of  the  Woman’s  Christian 


Mokal  Movements  Since  the  War.  243 


Temperance  Union,  or  specifically,  of  Mrs.  Mary 
H.  Hunt,  the  superintendent  of  the  department  of 
scientific  temperance  instruction,  in  co-operation 

Iwith  the  national  Temperance  Society  and  Pub- 
lication-house, text-hooks  have  been  introduced 
into  the  schools,  teaching  the  effects  of  alcohol 

I . . 

II  upon  the  human  system,  and  of  narcotics.  Begin- 
ning with  Vermont  and  Connecticut,  which  passed 
such  law  in  1882,  other  States  soon  followed,  until 
at  the  present  time  every  State  in  the  country 
requires  scientific  temperance  instruction  in  its 
schools.  Through  the  labors  of  the  Woman’s  Chris- 
tian Temperance  Union,  again,  by  petition  and  ap- 
ipeal,  the  International  Sunday-school  Lesson  Com- 
^ mittee  has,  since  1887,  devoted  one  lesson  in  each 
! quarter  to  temperance.  From  the  same  source  also 
' has  come  largely  the  present  practice  by  most 
Churches,  of  using  pure  grape-juice — unfermented 
wine — at  the  communion  service.  Among  the  suc- 
cessful recent  labors  of  the  Union  was  that  which 
resulted  in  the  enactment,  by  Congress,  of  the 
anti-canteen  law,  which  shuts  liquor  out  from  the 
army  post  exchanges,  an  act  approved  February 
2,  1901. 


244  A Centuky  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

Tlie  example  of  the  women  in  the  United  States 
led  to  the  organization  of  the  Dominion  Woman’s 
Christian  Temperance  Union  in  Canada,  in  1885, 
and  led  to  its  introduction  into  England.  Wrs. 
Mary  Clement  Leavitt  was  sent  as  the  first  round- 
the-world  missionary  of  the  National  Woman’s 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  beginning  her  jour- 
ney in  1885.  The  result  was  the  formation  of  a 
World’s  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Lnion, 
which  has  now  branches  and  societies  in  many 
lands. 

The  National  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance 
Union  has  strenuously  advocated  the  ballot  for 
women,  partly  on  the  general  principle  of  right, 
partly  for  the  reason  that  in  this  particular  reform 
woman  should  have  the  right  thus  to  make  her  sen- 
timent effective  in  law — she  who,  while  suffering 
most,  has  been  denied  a hearing  and  redress.  The 
work  of  the  Union  has  been  distinctively  a work 
of  education  and  moral  appeal.  While  it  advo- 
cates the  abolition  of  the  liquor  traffic  by  law,  it 
is  a non-political  organization.  All  parties  have 
been  appealed  to,  that  they  further  in  their  legisla- 
tive or  executive  capacity,  or  both,  the  cause  of 


Mot?, AT.  Movements  Since  the  Wak.  245 

temperance  and  prohibition.  The  general  princi- 
ple of  the  Union,  oft  repeated,  is  this : ‘‘We  will 
lend  our  influence  to  that  party,  by  whatever  name 
called,  which  shall  furnish  the  best  embodiment 
of  prohibition  principles,  and  will  most  surely  pro- 
tect our  homes.”  When  at  the  national  convention 
in  St.  Louis,  in  the  fall  of  1884,  resolutions  were 
adopted,  after  all  parties  had  been  appealed  to, 
that  the  Union  would  lend  its  influence  “to  that 
national  political  organization  which  declares  in 
its  platform  for  national  prohibition  and  home 
protection,”  adopted  by  a vote  of  188  to  48, — this 
caused  dissent,  and  led  to  a defection,  through  the 
leadership  and  persistent  purpose  of  Mrs.  J.  Ellen 
Eoster,  of  Iowa,  and  to  the  formation,  in  1890,  of 
a separate  organization,  under  the  name,  “The 
Uon-Partisan  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance 
Union.”  The  head  of  the  regular  national  organ- 
ization, for  several  years  now,  is  Mrs.  Lillian  M. 
U.  Stevens,  of  Maine. 

To  name  all  who  have  rendered  distinguished 
service  in  the  cause  of  temperance  would  make 
too  long  a list.  ISTo  mention  of  woman’s  work  in 
temperance  would  be  complete,  however,  without 


246  A Centuey  of  Deikk  Eefoem. 

the  name  of  that  gracious  and  gifted  woman,  so 
wise  to  plan,  and  strong  to  lead ; respected  and  be- 
loved of  the  people ; the  uncroAvned  queen  of  Amer- 
ican democracy — Miss  Frances  E.  Willard.  Re- 
signing her  position  as  dean  of  the  Woman’s  Col- 
lege and  Professor  of  M^sthetics  in  Northwestern 
Fniversity,  in  June,  1874,  Miss  Willard  began  at 
once  her  career  in  the  temperance  cause.  The 
scenes  of  the  woman’s  crusade  had  stirred  her. 
She  was  present  at  the  organization  of  the 
Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  that  same 
fall  in  Cleveland,  as  a delegate  from  Illinois,  and 
presented  at  that  convention,  with  grasp  and  fore- 
sight, a plan  of  work  that  was  laid  out  upon  the 
general  lines  which  have  since  been  followed  by 
the  Union.  Elected  its  first  corresponding  secre- 
tary, Miss  Willard  was  in  1879  elected  president 
of  the  National  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  a position  she  held  for  nearly  twenty  years, 
until  her  death.  For  a munber  of  years  before  her 
death  she  was  also  the  president  of  the  World’s 
Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union. 

During  all  these  years  Miss  Willard  was  not 
merely  the  most  conspicuous  and  commanding 


Moral  Movements  Since  the  War.  247 

figure  in  woman’s  wprk  for  temperance,  but  she 
represented  in  her  rich  intellectual  endowments 
and  Christian  culture,  her  lofty  and  discerning 
purpose,  her  rare  balance  of  judgment,  and  her 
wide  sympathies,  the  best  exponent  of  the  entire 
modern  movement  for  woman’s  emancipation.  In 
her  passing  away,  near  the  going  out  of  the  cen- 
tury— she  died  in  New  York  City,  [February  17, 
1898 — the  cause  of  humanity  lost  one  of  its 
stanchest  friends,  and  among  women  its  ablest  ad- 
vocate. 


(H.) 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

Legal  and  Political  Measlkes  Since  the  War. 

That  the  prohibitory  laws  of  the  fifties,  to- 
gether with  the  heavy  internal  revenue  tax  of  1862 
should  awaken  the  liquor  interests  to  an  attitude 
at  least  of  defense,  was  certainly  not  unexpected. 
They  met  the  issue  where,  by  the  logic  of  evolu- 
tion in  temperance  reform,  and  in  the  exigency  of 
;war,  it  had  been  brought,  namely,  in  politics.  The 
ATational  Brewers’  Association,  organized  in  1862, 
announced  as  one  of  its  chief  objects  the  wielding 
of  political  infiuence,  to  see  “that  its  interests  be 
vigorously  and  energetically  prosecuted  before  the 
legislative  and  executive  departments.”  It  soon 
became  evident  that  all  prohibitory  laws  were,  by 
concerted  action,  to  be  repealed.  Aggressive  cam- 
paigns were  carried  on  in  a number  of  States  to 
this  end.  Of  the  prohibitory  laws  passed  before 
the  war,  Delaware  voted  for  repeal  in  1857 ; Ne- 
braska and  Indiana  in  1858 ; Rhode  Island  in 
248 


Legal  and  Political  Measukes.  249 


1863;  Massachusetts  in  1868,  re-enacting  the  law 
the  following  year,  and  repealing  again  in  1875; 
Connecticut  in  1872  ; Michigan  in  1875. 

As  legislation  is  secured  through  political  ac- 
tion, the  determined  and  aggressive  aim  of  the 
liquor  interests  henceforth  was  to  influence  and 
control  the  action  of  political  parties.  The  17a- 
tional  Brewers’  Congress  held  in  Chicago,  in  1867, 
adopted  the  following  resolution:  “That  we  will 
use  all  means  to  stay  the  progress  of  this  fanatical 
party,  and  to  secure  our  rights  as  individual  citi- 
zens, and  that  we  will  sustain  no  candidate,  of 
whatever  party,  in  any  election,  who  is  in  any  way 
disposed  toward  the  total  abstinence  cause.”  By 
“this  fanatical  party”  was  meant  the  temperance 
contingent  as  it  was  found  in,  and  working 
through,  existing  party  organizations.  This  was 
the  first  clear  announcement  of  that  business- 
above-party,  balance-of-power  policy,  at  once  the 
annoyance  and  fear  of  the  political  helmsman,  by 
means  of  which  the  liquor  traffic  has  been  able  to 
maintain  a prolonged  existence  to  the  present  day, 
in  spite  of  the  combined  agencies  of  reform. 

These  things  awakened  those  whose  lives  were 


250  A Centuky  of  DEiifK  Refoem. 

wrapped  up  in  the  temperance  cause  to  a new  and 
most  serious  danger.  “If  the  adversaries  of  tem- 
perance shall  continue  to  receive  the  aid  and  coun- 
jtenance  of  present  political  parties,  we  shall  not 
^hesitate  to  break  over  political  hands  and  seek  re- 
j dress  through  the  ballot-box,”  so  the  State  Tem- 
' perance  Convention  of  Pennsylvania,  held  at  Har- 
risburg, in  February,  1867,  had  declared.  The 
Brewers’  Congress  in  1868,  in  session  at  Buffalo, 
repeated  in  yet  stronger  language  the  resolutions 
of  the  preceding  year,  determined  “to  deprive  the 
political  and  Puritanical  temperance  men  of  the 
power  they  have  so  long  exercised  in  the  councils 
of  the  political  parties  in  this  country.”  And 
when  the  temperance  people  observed  that  it  was 
true,  that  they  were  being  deprived  of  their  power 
in  “the  councils  of  the  political  parties,”  and  that 
the  liquor  interests  were  supplanting  them  in  the 
exercise  of  that  power,  a gTOwing  conviction  forced 
itself  upon  them  of  the  necessity  of  independent 
political  action. 

Such  step  was  soon  to  be  taken.  The  Eight 
Worthy  Grand  Lodge  of  Good  Templars,  the  su- 
preme body  of  that  order,  had  declared  for  the 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  261 

formation  of  such  separate  party  at  its  session  in 
1868.  The  same  body,  in  May,  1869,  in  session 
at  Oswego,  l^ew  York,  repeated  the  declaration 
and  recommended  the  calling  of  a convention  for 
that  purpose.  A committee  of  five  was  appointed 
to  issue  a call,  consisting  of  Rev.  John  Russell,  of 
Detroit,  one  of  the  very  first  to  advocate  independ- 
ent political  action ; Professor  Daniel  Wilkins, 
of  Bloomington;  J.  A.  Spencer,  of  Cleveland; 
John  R.  Stearns,  of  Yew  York;  and  James  Black, 
of  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  The  committee  is- 
sued the  following  call : 

‘‘To  the  Friends  of  Temperance,  Law,  and  Order 

in  the  United  States : 

“The  moral,  social,  and  political  evils  of  in- 
temperance and  the  non-enforcement  of  liquor  laws 
are  so  fearful  and  prominent,  and  the  causes 
thereof  are  so  entrenched  and  protected  by  govern- 
mental authority  and  party  interest,  that  the  sup- 
pression of  these  evils  calls  upon  the  friends  of 
temperance;  and  the  duties  connected  with  home, 
religion,  and  public  peace  demand  that  old  polit- 
ical ties  and  associations  shall  be  sundered,  and  a 
distinct  political  party,  with  prohibition  of  the 


252  A Centtjey  of  Dkink  Eefoem. 

traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  as  the  most  promi- 
nent feature,  sliall  be  organized. 

“The  distinctive  political  issues  that  have  for 
years  past  interested  the  American  people  are  now 
comparatively  unimportant,  or  fully  settled,  and 
in  this  aspect  the  time  is  auspicious  for  a decided 
and  practical  effort  to  overcome  the  dread  power 
of  the  liquor  trade. 

“The  undersigned  do  therefore  earnestly  in- 
vite all  friends  of  temperance  and  the  enforcement 
of  law,  and  favorable  to  distinct  political  action 
for  the  promotion  of  the  same,  to  meet  in  general 
mass  convention  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  on  Wednes- 
day, the  1st  day  of  September,  1869,  at  11  o’clock 
A.  M.,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  for  distinct 
political  action  for  temperance.” 

The  call  was  signed  by  more  than  fifty  promi- 
nent men  interested  in  the  cause,  representing  the 
different  religious  bodies,  professions,  and  walks 
in  life.  How  long,  0 Lord!  Surely  the  time 
is  now  at  hand.  At  last,  at  last ; after  the  most 
determined  and  vigilant  pursuit  of  the  trail,  en- 
countered and  worsted,  eluding  his  pursuers  again 
and  again,  the  devourer  has  at  last  been  tracked 
to  his  lair.  How  for  the  fight  iinto  death ! 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  253 


Pursuant  to  call,  nearly  five  hundred  delegates, 
from  twenty  States,  met  in  convention  in  Chicago 
on  the  day  appointed.  James  Black  was  made 
chairman,  and  J.  A.  Spencer  secretary  of  the  con- 
vention. A declaration  of  principles  was  set  forth  ; 
an  address,  prepared  by  Gerrit  Smith,  was  issued 

(*'  to  the  American  people ; and  a party  organized  for 
independent  political . action.  It  was  named  the 
national  Prohibition  Party.  Around  this  ensign 
all  the  temperance  sentiment  of  the  country  was 
, to  gather  for  a final  campaign  of  victory.  The 
I children  of  this  world  shall,  in  this  instance  at 
least,  not  outgeneral  in  wisdom  the  children  of 
light. 

The  history  of  drink  reform  had  now  entered 
upon  its  final  epoch.  The  successive  steps  in  the 
movement  had  reached  a logical  and  inevitable  con- 
clusion at  this  point.  Hothing  new  has  since  been 
added ; the  last  factor  in  the  problem  had  been  dis- 
covered.  The  real  question  since  then  has  been, 
I not  to  find  the  difficulty  or  a solution,  but  to  apply 
I to  the  manifest  difficulty  a solution  already  found. 
[ The  proposed  remedy  has  been  bitterly  assailed  by 
' friend  and  foe  alike  of  temperance ; but  it  has 


264  A Centtjey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

never  been  fully  or  fairly  tried.  Many  things, 
however,  have  been  tried,  all  of  which  are  inter- 
esting and  suggestive  to  the  student  of  the  reform. 

1.  The  Citizens’  Law  and  Order  League. 

This  originated  in  Chicago,  in  1877.  During 
the  railway  riots  of  that  year  it  was  observed  that 
a large  proportion  of  the  rioters  were  half-druhken 
boys.  Subsequent  observations  revealed  the  fact 
that  a large  army  of  such  boys  Avere  habitual  pat- 
rons of  Chicago  saloons,  and  were  there  receiving 
the  beginnings  of  a transformation  into  druakards, 
vagrants,  and  criminals.  A few  earnest  Christian 
men  sought  a remedy,  and  a “Citizens’  League  of 
Chicago  for  the  Suppression  of  the  Sale  of  Liquor 
to  Minors”  was  organized,  Avith  Frederick  F.  El- 
mendorf  as  president,  and  AndreAV  Paxton  as  pros- 
ecuting agent.  The  first  aim  of  the  movement  was 
to  preserve  the  rising  generation  from  habits  of 
dissipation  and  vice.  Starting  with  this  single 
object,  the  purpose  and  scope  of  the  movement  soon 
broadened,  including  the  enforcement  of  every  re- 
strictive liquor  law,  and  the  laws  against  gambling 
and  other  forms  of  Auce. 

Meeting  Avith  such  success  in  Chicago,  the 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  255 


movement  spread  to  other  cities  and  States.  In 
1883,  at  a convention  in  Tremont  Temple,  Bos- 
ton, a national  organization  vras  effected,  taking 
the  name,  “The  Citizens’  Law  and  Order  League 
of  the  United  States.”  The  growth  of  the  move- 
ment has  been  rapid  and  spontaneous  from  the 
beginning.  It  had  the  sympathy  and  support  of 
influential  men  from  all  classes  and  creeds.  Mr. 
C.  C.  Bonney,  of  Chicago,  was  prominent  in  this 
movement,  and  for  some  time  the  head  of  the  or- 
ganization. 

Although  not  in  existence  at  the  present  time 
■ as  a national  organization,  the  law  and  order  move- 
ij  ment  has  done  good  service  in  toning  up  a lax  pub- 
/ lie  sentiment  on  the  vital  principle  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  law,  and  in  showing  that  even  where  offi- 
cials are  inclined  to  do  their  duty  in  this  respect, 
they  must  have  back  of  them  the  co-operation  and 
support  of  a determined  body  of  constituent  citi- 
zens. Local  and  State  leagues  are  still  doing  effect- 
ive work  in  many  places.  There  is  probably  no 

I more  efficient  organization  of  the  kind  to-day  than 
the  Law  and  Order  League  of  Connecticut,  whose 
■ continued  success  has  been  due  to  its  capable  and 


256  A Centuey  of  Deiftk  EEFOKii. 

energetic  secretary  and  manager,  Mr.  Samuel  P. 
Thrasher,  of  i^ew  Haven. 

2.  live  High  License  Policy. 

To  enforce  the  law  against  the  sale  of  liquor  to 
minors,  and  the  other  countless  restrictions  placed 
upon  the  saloon  business,  was  a difficult  task.  A 
more  severe  and  practical  restrictive  policy,  tem- 
perance men  said,  would  be  to  raise  the  license  fee. 
This  will  eliminate  the  lower  and  more  objection- 
able resorts,  it  was  thought,  Avho  can  not  pay  such 
fee.  The  number  of  saloons,  too,  will  be  reduced, 
and  the  temptations  to  drink  will  be  just  to  that 
extent  lessened.  Furthermore,  by  bringing  the 
business  thus  within  narrower  limits,  the  task  of 
police  supervision  will  become  easier  and  more  ef- 
fective ; and,  again,  those  who  pay  the  high  license 
fee  for  the  privilege  of  doing  business,  it  was 
thought,  will  themselves  help  to  enforce  the  law 
against  any  who  might  attempt  to  sell  without  li- 
cense. The  larger  revenue,  lastly,  thus  derived 
from  the  drink  traffic  will  better  compensate  the 
public  for  the  evils  it  suffers  from  the  traffic.  Be- 
sides all  this,  some  of  the  most  ardent  temperance 
men  thought  that  this  first  severe  restriction  would 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  257 

I prepare  the  way  for  further  and  severer  restric- 
tions,  until  the  traffic  should  gradually  be  taxed  to 
death,  or  prohibited. 

In  this  movement  for  high  license  Nebraska 
I took  the  initiative,  in  the  passage  of  the  Slocumb 
I law  in  1881.  This  law  fixed  the  minimum  license 
fee  at  $500  a year  for  towns  with  a population  less 
than  ten  thousand,  and  $1,000  a year  for  cities 
with  a population  of  ten  thousand  or  more.  The 
framers  and  supporters  of  this  measure  were  radi- 
cal temperance  men,  John  B,  Finch  among  them, 
believers  in  the  principle  of  prohibition,  who 
looked  upon  this  measure  as  a serious  inroad  upon 
the  traffic,  and  an  important  step  towards  its  com- 
plete destruction. 

Missouri  and  Illinois,  beginning  in  1884,  fol- 
lowed  the  example  of  Nebraska,  fixing  the  mini- 
■ mum  fee  at  $550  and  $500,  respectively.  Most  of 
the  States  have  since  then  enacted  high  license 
laws,  either  fixing  the  minimum  annual  fee  at 
$500,  or  thereabouts,  or  providing  a sliding  scale, 
varying  with  the  size  of  the  city,  or  with  the 
amount  of  business  done,  or  with  other  contingen- 
cies. In  these  cases  the  fees  range  from  about 
17 


258 


A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


$300  to  $1,000,  or  as  high  as  $2,000  even,  a year,  • 
111  Massachusetts  it  costs  not  less  than  about  $1,300 
to  do  a regular  retail  liquor  business  for  one  year. 

I The  high  license  policy,  which  was  originated 
]|y  temperance  men  and  opposed  by  liquor  men, 
as  a severe  restriction  and  a step  toward  prohibi- 
tion, has  since  then  been  espoused  by  liquor  men 
and  more  and  more  opposed  by  temperance  men,  as 
the  most  effectual  barrier  to  prohibition.  Except 
that  it  yields  revenue,  it  has  disappointed  its 
friends  on  every  count.  This  one  success  is  now  its 
very  condemnation. 

3.  The  Dispensary  System. 

Another  fact  had  been  discovered.  The  rea- 
son the  liquor-seller  breaks  over  the  restrictions 
imposed  upon  his  business  and  sells  to  minors,  to 
drunkards,  on  Sundays,  and  at  all  hours  of  the 
night,  and  in  fact  at  any  time  or  place  that  a man 
is  on  hand  to  ask  for  a drink,  is  his  desire  to  make 
money.  Indeed,  this  is  the  reason  itself,  it  was 
discovered,  that  he  enters  the  business  at  all,  rather 
than  from  any  religious  or  philanthropic  motive  to 
uplift  his  fellow-men.  And  the  reason  he  can  pay 
even  a high  license  fee  and  still  prosper,  is  because 


Legal  and  Political  Measukes.  259 


there  is  profit  in  the  business.  This  was  the  dis- 
covery. 

: The  path  of  procedure,  then,  became  plain; 

I eliminate  the  element  of  private  profit.  To  this 
■ end  the  business  must  be  taken  out  of  the  hands 
who  administer  it  for  private  gain,  and  placed  in 
the  hands  of  salaried  agents  who  shall  make  no 
extra  profit  by  pushing  the  sale. 

This  idea  did  not  originate  wholly  in  America. 
The  principle  involved  here  had  been  caught  sight 
of  in  Sweden  many  years  before.  As  early  as  1865 
the  city  of  Gothenburg  applied  this  principle  par- 
tially to  the  sale  of  spirits.  The  city  did  not  itself 
go  directly  into  the  business,  but  granted  a monop- 
oly of  the  sale  of  spirits  to  a private  company,  or 
bolag,  to  operate  a limited  number  of  public- 
houses,  where  spirits  could  only  be  obtained  in 
connection  with  food.  All  the  profits  above  a divi- 
dend of  five  or  six  per  cent  on  the  capital  invested, 
the  bolag  hands  over  to  the  public  ; being  at  the 
present  time  divided  between  the  city,  the  province, 
and  the  Agricultural  Society.  The  bolag,  or  com- 
pany, is  required  to  place  responsible  managers  in 
charge,  paying  them  a salary,  and  to  secure  strict 


260  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

supervision  of  all  public-houses  by  private  inspect- 
ors and  by  co-operating  with  the  police.  The  sale  of 
malt  and  vinous  liquors  is  not  farmed  out  and 
monopolized  in  this  way. 

In  Sweden,  where  this  system  largely  prevails, 
the  companies  are  required  to  furnish  food,  and 
the  drinking  places  are  made  attractive,  the  aim 
appearing  to  be  to  make  the  eating  feature  pre- 
dominant. In  Horway  the  companies,  or  samlags, 
as  they  are  there  called,  furnish  no  food,  no  chairs, 
papers,  amusements,  or  accommodations ; dis- 
mantling the  place  of  every  feature  of  attraction. 
The  customer  swallows  his  dram  and  gets  out.  The 
profits  here,  above  the  dividend,  until  recently 
went  to  philanthropic  enterprises;  but  on  account 
of  a growing  protest  to  this  practice,  they  now  go 
almost  entirely  into  the  national  treasury.  These 
are  the  main  features  of  this  system,  which  is 
named,  from  the  city  of  its  origin,  the  Gothenburg 
System. 

It  remained  for  the  State  of  South  Carolina 
to  make  the  first  thorough-going  application  of  this 
principle  ( i.  e.,  eliminating  the  element  of  private 
gain)  by  taking  full  charge  of  the  business  of 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  261 


liquor-selling,  and  pocketing  the  entire  profits. 

I The  dispensary  system  went  into  effect  July  1, 
f 1893.  The  State  got  into  the  white  apron,  put  on 
the  proper  smile,  and  waited  for  customers.  It  was 
not  that  the  people  wanted  it  so.  In  the  election 
of  1892  the  drink  question  had  been  submitted  to 
them  for  an  expression  of  sentiment,  and  they  had 
voted  for  entire  prohibition  by  a majority  of  eight 
thousand.  A bill  to  this  effect,  providing  for  com- 
plete prohibition,  was  brought  before  the  legisla- 
ture, hut  it  was  headed  off  with  a dispensary  sub- 
stitute, which  was  brought  in  and  rushed  through 
by  the  friends  of  the  governor,  Benjamin  Till- 
man, and  signed  by  him. 

Tinder  this  act  the  State  has  entire  control  of 
the  liquor  business,  and  all  who  handle  liquor  are 
its  salaried  agents.  A State  Board  of  Control  ex- 
ercises supreme  supervision.  A State  commis- 
sioner is  the  agent  through  whom  all  liquors  must 
he  purchased  by  county  and  local  dispensers.  The 
dispensers  are  appointed  by  county  boards,  upon 
application  indorsed  by  a majority  of  the  voters 
of  the  town  or  city  in  which  liquor  is  to  be  sold. 
The  liquor  is  sold  in  sealed  packages,  as  purchased 


262  A Centuky  of  Dbink;  Refoeai. 

from  the  State  authorities,  and  is  not  to  be  opened 
or  drunk  on  the  premises.  The  profits  on  sales  go 
to  the  State,  county,  and  local  treasuries.  These 
are  the  general  provisions  of  the  law,  though  in  its 
details  it  has  been  modified  many  times.  The 
dispensary  system  is  in  operation  also  in  a num- 
ber of  counties  and  towns  in  Alabama,  Georgia, 
hlorth  Carolina,  and  elsewhere.  South  Dakota  re- 
pealed her  prohibitory  law  in  1897,  and  passed  a 
dispensary  act,  which  was  done  in  such  hurry  that 
it  was  found  to  be  unconstitutional;  which  leaves 
the  State  now  under  license. 

To  those  who  hold  that  all  permissive  measures 
relative  to  the  liquor  traffic  are  wrong  in  principle, 
the  dispensary  system  offers  but  little  satisfaction. 
Dor  a State  to  go  directly  into  a business  that  de- 
bauches her  citizens  makes  the  wrong,  in  fact,  only 
the  more  grievous.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who 
rest  all  legislation  relative  to  the  drink  traffic  on 
the  basis  of  expediency  solely,  they,  too,  will  find 
but  little  to  encourage  them  in  the  results  that  have 
attended  the  operation  of  this  system.  In  South 
Carolina  the  consumption  of  liquor  has  not  been 
lessened;  the  criminal  budget  has  not  been  re- 


Legal  and  Political  Measukes.  263 


g duced;  illicit  sales  have  not  ceased;  and  the  ques- 
j'  tion  has  not  been  eliminated  from  politics.  To 
I pay  a man  a salary  and  set  him  over  a business, 
I and  expect  him  to  do  as  little  business  as  possible 
• — this  is  an  anomalous  situation. 

These  measures  and  expedients,  just  named, 
have  to  do  with  the  policy  of  regulation,  stopping 
short  of  the  complete  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traf- 
fic— although  the  Law  and  Order  Leagues  work 
under  prohibition  as  well  as  under  license.  We 
will  now  look  briefly  at  efforts  that  have  been  made 
during  this  period  for  the  complete  suppression  of 
the  liquor  traffic. 

4.  State  Constitutional  Prohibition. 

The  prohibitory  laws  of  the  fifties  were  simply 
statutory  enactments  by  the  different  State  legis- 
latures, passed  in  response  to  the  sentiment  of  the 
people.  The  successive  repeals,  by  the  different 
State  legislatures,  of  most  of  these  laws  after  a few 
years,  revealed  the  insufficiency  of  this  policy.  It 
led  to  this  reflection : the  constituency  of  a legisla- 
ture changes  with  every  election.  A statute  law 
enacted  by  one  legislature  may  be  repealed  by  a 
subsequent  legislature,  and  this  without  direct 


264  A Century  oe  Drine:  Reform. 

reference  to  the  sentiment  of  the  people,  which  may 
remain  unchanged  in  its  favor.  The  likelihood  of 
legislatures  doing  this  very  thing  became  enhanced 
just  in  proportion  as  the  liquor  interests  became  a 
political  power,  and  held  a club  over  the  head  of 
every  candidate  for  office — or  slipped  a purse  into 
his  pocket  after  he  got  into  office.  To  rescue  the 
temperance  cause  from  this  precarious  situation, 
it  was  seen  that  the  prohibition  policy  must  not  he 
left  for  its  fate  in  the  hands  of  the  office-seeker 
and  politician.  It  must  be  safeguarded  by  the 
people,  where  the  law  will  not  be  sacrificed  to  serve 
personal  or  party  interests.  The  people  must 
; therefore,  by  vote,  insert  a provision  in  their  State 
I constitution  which  will  at  once  compel  the  legis- 

ilatiu’e  to  enact  a prohibitory  law,  and  at  the  same 
time  will  prevent  that  body  from  repealing  the  law 
until  the  people  themselves  have  first  voted  to  that 
. effect. 

Thus  originated  the  movement  for  State  consti- 
tutional prohibition,  which  began  its  success  in 
1880,  and  ended,  after  many  hotly  contested  con- 
flicts, in  1890.  Kansas,  first  in  the  irrepressible 
conflict  of  slavery,  was  also  to  take  the  lead  in 
adopting  this,  the  most  effectual  method  so  far,  in 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  265 


this  equally  irrepressible  conflict.  It  had  been  pro- 
posed in  other  States,  but  Kansas  was  the  first  to 
f carry  it  into  effect.  The  constitutional  amend- 
f ment  was  carried  by  a vote  of  the  people  of  Kan- 
sas, in  1880;  going  into  effect  May  Ij  1881.  Iowa 
passed  a similar  amendment  by  popular  vote,  in 
1882.  On  a slight  error  in  transcription  the 
amendment  was  declared  unconstitutional ; but  the 
legislature,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  an  aroused 
and  determined  public  sentiment,  enacted  a pro- 
, hibitory  statute  law,  which  went  into  effect  July 
f 4,  1884.  Maine,  strengthening  her  statute  law  of 
years’  standing,  passed  a constitutional  amendment 
in  1884;  Rhode  Island  in  1886;  Korth  Dakota 
and  South  Dakota  in  1889.  In  the  following 
States  the  proposed  prohibitory  amendment  was 
defeated  at  the  polls:  Ohio,  in  1885 — the  amend- 
ment failing  to  receive  a majority  of  all  the  votes 
cast,  though  it  had  a large  majority  (82,000)  of 
all  who  voted  on  the  question;  Tennessee,  Michi- 
gan, Texas,  and  Oregon,  in  1887 ; West  Virginia, 
in  1888 ; Washington,  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut, 
Massachusetts,  and  Kew  Hampshire  (complete 
prohibition),  in  1889;  Kebraska,  in  1890.  The 


266  A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

aggregate  vote  in  these  several  States — all  of  them, 
where  prohibition  carried,  and  where  it  did  not — 
was:  Against,  2,072,722;  for,  1,758,895;  with 
nearly  a million  not  voting  either  way.  This  en- 
tire movement  was  toward  settling  the  drink  ques- 
tion a State  at  a time,  and  by  a strictly  non-par- 
tisan, popular  vote. 

5.  National  Constitutional  Proliihition. 

This  was  a hope  only,  labored  for,  but  never 
consummated. 

While  temperance  people  generally  were  turn- 
ing toward  State  prohibition  as  the  remedy  for 
the  defective  statutory  prohibition,  a number,  see- 
ing the  necessary  inadequacy  of  any  mere  State 
legislation  on  this  question,  went  a step  farther 
and  argued  for  national  constitutional  prohibition. 
State  prohibition  is  good,  they  agreed,  but  national 
jDrohibition  is  for  obvious  reasons  better,  and  the 
only  final  remedy.  The  method  for  securing  the 
latter  was  to  be  precisely  the  same  as  in  the  for- 
mer instance,  namely,  the  non-partisan  method. 
As  in  the  former  instance  the  legislature  submitted 
the  amendment  to  the  people  for  their  approval, 
so  Congress,  in  this  instance,  was  to  submit  such 
amendment. 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  267 

The  United  States  Constitution  may  be 
amended  by  a two-thirds  vote  of  both  houses  of 
Congress  proposing  the  amendment,  which,  when 
ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  States,  through 
their  legislatures  or  by  special  representative  con- 
ventions, shall  become  a part  of  the  Constitution 
and  fundamental  law  of  the  land.  Let  temperance 
men  therefore  see  to  it  that  such  senators  and  mem- 
bers of  Congress  shall  be  elected  from  their  several 
States  and  congressional  districts  as  are  favorable 
toward  a prohibitory  amendment.  It  matters  not 
what  his  party  affiliations  are,  so  he  will  only  vote 
for  the  amendment.  It  matters  not  even  whether 
he  himself  is  for  license  or  for  prohibition,  so  he 
will  only  agree  to  have  this  question  submitted  to 
the  people  for  their  judgment.  And  ‘‘what  polit- 
ical party  which  cares  for  political  freedom,  can 
deny  to  the  millions  who  desire  to  be  heard  upon 
this  tremendous  question  . . . the  exercise 

of  this  fundamental  right  ?”  In  this  way  it  was 
thought  to  be  comparatively  easy  to  get  such 
amendment  before  the  people,  and  once  in  the 
forum  of  the  people,  to  carry  it  to  victory. 

The  most  earnest  and  hopeful  advocate  of  na- 


268  A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoe^i. 

tional  constitutional  prohibition  was,  perhaps, 
Hon.  Henry  W.  Blair,  of  Hew  Hampshire,  from 
whom  the  foregoing  words  are  quoted.  Senator  A. 
H.  Colquitt,  of  Georgia,  also,  was  as  pronounced 
for  prohibition  as  he  was  distinguished  and  hon- 
ored in  public  service,  and  tried  for  years  to  get 
Congress  to  act  on  this  question.  Hr.  Blair  was 
the  first  to  introduce  into  Congress  a joint  resolu- 
tion, in  1876,  while  a member  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution. This  amendment  was  made  to  apply  to 
spirituous  liquors  only,  leaving  the  traffic  in  malt 
and  vinous  liqiiors  for  each  State  to  decide;  and 
was  to  go  into  effect  with  the  year  1900.  The  rea- 
son for  making  the  amendment  cover  half  the 
ground  only  was  the  hope  that  it  would,  in  this 
form,  stand  a better  chance  of  carrying ; and  that, 
when  once  in  force,  the  destruction  of  the  traffic  in 
fermented  liquors  would  follow.  Hr.  Blair  in- 
troduced this  resolution  in  every  succeeding  Con- 
gress, chauging  the  form  of  the  amendment,  after 
a few  years,  to  complete  prohibition. 

In  the  meantime,  in  1881,  at  the  national  con- 
vention of  the  Republican  party,  strong  efforts 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  269 


were  made  to  induce  that  party  to  declare  in  its 
platform  in  favor  of  submitting  the  question  of 
such  amendment  to  the  people.  A resolution, 
drafted  by  Senator  Blair,  was  presented  to  the  con- 
vention by  Senator  Rollins,  and  Miss  Frances  Wil- 
lard, the  president  of  the  Woman’s  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union,  spoke  before  the  committee — to 
quote  from  Blair — “like  an  angel  from  heaven.” 

But  the  seed  fell  on  stony  ground. 

6.  The  National  League  for  the  Suppression 
of  the  Liquor  Traffic — N on-P artisan  and  Non- 
Sectarian. 

The  League  was  organized  in  Boston  on  Jan- 
uary 1,  1885.  The  bitter  animosities  awakened 
by  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1881,  on  account 
of  the  intrusion  of  the  drink  issue  into  national 
politics  by  the  Prohibition  party,  led  many  to  the 
conviction  that  the  temperance  cause  was  being 
hazarded  in  thus  being  tied  to  the  fortunes  of  par- 
tisan politics.  It  was  in  opposition,  therefore,  to 
party  prohibition  that  the  League  was  formed. 
What  the  prohibition  party  sought  to  achieve 
through  separate  party  action  the  originators  of 
this  League  averred  could  be  accomplished  only 


270  A Century  of  Drink;  Reform. 

by  non-partisan  action,  the  voice  of  all  the  people. 
The  former,  or  party  method,  divides  the  tem- 
perance sentiment  of  the  coimtry;  the  latter,  or 
non-partisan  method,  unites  it.  Thus  “thnist 
forth  by  Providence,  in  a great  public  exigency,” 
the  League  was  launched  under  circumstances 
most  auspicious.  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  promi- 
nent in  temperance  work  and  literature,  was  made 
its  president,  and  Mrs.  J.  Ellen  Foster,  its  gen- 
eral secretary.  Among  its  other  officers  and  di- 
rectors were,  Hon.  John  D.  Long,  Hon.  John 
Wanamaker,  Hon.  Henry  Metcalf,  Judge  Daniel 
Agnew,  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  Rev.  Albert 
H.  Plumb,  Hon.  John  Earwell,  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Livermore. 

The  League  called  upon  persons  of  all  classes 
and  creeds  to  work  and  vote  against  the  liquor 
traffic  in  every  way,  and  everyivhere,  without  ref- 
erence to  party,  or  within  existing  party  lines  by 
regular  means  of  procedure.  Attention  was  called 
to  the  fact  that  the  dozen  or  more  prohibition  State 
laws  enacted  before  the  war  were  passed  without 
the  existence  of  a “third  party,”  and  that  “all  the 
wonderful  advances  of  the  temperance  reformation 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  271 


from  1826  to  1860j  moral  and  social  transforma- 
tions scarcely  if  ever  equaled,  were  effected  on  a 
non-partisan  basis.” 

Over  two  million  pages  of  literature  were 
printed  during  the  first  twelvemonth  of  the 
League’s  existence.  The  League  died  not  long 
after. 

7.  The  Anti-Saloon  Republican  Movement. 

The  Presidential  campaign  of  1884  was  the 
most  memorable  since  the  days  of  slavery.  The 
Prohibition  party  had  purposely  postponed  its 
nominating  convention  that  year  until  after  the 
national  conventions  of  both  the  larger  parties 
had  been  held.  Some  expression  favorable  to  the 
temperance  cause  was  eagerly  looked  for  from  one 
or  the  other  of  these  parties.  17ot  only  the  Pro- 
hibition party,  but  the  wider  temperance  interests 
of  the  country,  were  represented  at  both  conven- 
tions, to  make  appeal  on  behalf  of  a common  cause. 
To  this  appeal  the  Democratic  platform  responded : 
“We  oppose  sumptuary  laws  which  vex  the  citi- 
zen and  interfere  with  personal  liberty.”  The 
Republican  platform  declared:  “The  Republic- 
ans of  the  United  States,  in  national  convention 


272  A Centuey  oe  Dkink  Eeeoem. 

assembled,  renew  tbeir  allegiance  to  tbe  principles 
upon  which  they  have  triumphed  in  six  successive 
Presidential  elections.” 

The  complete  ignoring  of  the  temperance  ques- 
tion by  the  Republican  party  led  to  a considerable 
defection  from  its  ranks,  including  such  men  as 
Governor  John  P.  St.  John,  General  Clinton  B. 
Fisk,  and  John  B.  Gough.  The  tenor  of  this  revolt 
is  best  expressed  in  Gough’s  own  words : ‘‘For  for- 
ty-two years  I have  been  fighting  the  liquor  trade 
— the  trade  that  has  robbed  me  of  seven  of  the  best 
years  of  my  life.  I have  long  voted  the  Repub- 
lican ticket,  hoping  always  for  help  in  my  contest 
from  the  Republican  party.  But  we  have  been 
expecting  something  from  that  party  in  vain,  and 
now,  when  they  have  treated  the  most  respectful 
appeal  from  the  most  respectful  men  in  this  couu- 
try  with  silent  contempt,  I say  it  is  time  for  us  to 
leave  off  trusting,  and  express  our  opinion  of  that 
party.” 

The  defeat  of  the  Republican  party  in  that 
campaign,  for  the  first  time  in  a quarter  of  a cen- 
tury,— a defeat  due  largely  to  the  non-committal 
attitude  of  that  party  on  the  drink  question,  and 


Legal  and  Political  Measukes.  273 

the  consequent  largely  increased  vote  of  the  Prohi- 
bition party, — led  to  that  interesting  phenomenon, 
the  Anti-Saloon  Republican  Movement.  This  dif- 
fered from  the  17ational  League,  just  mentioned, 
in  that  it  was  avowedly  partisan.  What  the  Prohi- 
bition party  sought  to  accomplish  through  sepa- 
rate, or  ‘Third  party,’’  effort,  and  the  National 
League  through  popular,  non-partisan  action,  this 
movement  sought  to  attain  through  the  Republican 
party.  It  originated  within  that  party,  with  those 
who,  while  believing  in  prohibition,  were  also 
deeply  attached  to  the  name  and  traditions  of  the 
Republican  party;  who  believed  that  this  party, 
which  had  been  brought  into  being  on  a great  moral 
issue,  and  had  carried  that  issue  to  a glorious  con- 
summation, was  able  also  to  carry  through  the 
great  temperance  reform.  To  commit  the  Repub- 
lican party  uncompromisingly  to  that  issue  was 
the  object  of  this  movement.  It  originated  with 
the  temperance  Republicans  of  Kansas.  To  “save 
the  grand  old  party  from  disintegration,”  and  in 
full  hope  of  settling  the  drink  question,  a call  was 
issued  by  Albert  Griffin,  editor  of  the  Manhattan 
Nationalist,  on  December  1,  1885,  for  a national 
18 


274  A Centuky  oe  Dei^^k;  EEEOKii. 

convention  of  Republican  foes  of  tbe  liquor  tra£B.c, 
to  meet  in  Toledo  the  following  May;  declaring 
that  the  time  had  come  when  this  issue  must  he 
squarely  met  and  fought  out,  and  that  “the  Repub- 
lican party  must  and  will  mount  a temperance 
platform.” 

Such  language,  however,  Mr.  Griffin  found  on 
his  tour  through  the  Eastern  States,  was  too  rad- 
ical to  be  acceptable  to  party  leaders,  and  but  lit- 
tle enthusiasm  was  manifested.  The  call  was  then 
withdrawn  and  a second  call  was  issued,  framed 
in  more  judicious  speech,  for  a national  confer- 
ence to  be  held  in  Chicago,  September  16,  1886. 
Conferences  were  held  in  a number  of  States  to 
elect  delegates.  Some  two  hundred  representa- 
tives were  present  at  the  Chicago  conference.  Sen- 
ator Henry  W.  Blair  was  the  temporary  chairman, 
and  Hon.  William  Windom,  one  of  the  best  men 
the  party  ever  had,  was  made  permanent  chairman 
of  the  convention.  The  party  press  had  not  been 
wholly  friendly  to  this  movement,  and  not  many 
of  the  influential  party  managers  were  present. 
The  convention  adopted  a platform,  or  declaration 
of  principles,  and  selected  a national  committee, 
with  Albert  Griffin  as  chairman. 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  275 


At  the  approach  of  the  Presidential  campaign 
of  1888,  a second  conference  was  called  to  meet  in 
iN’ew  York,  on  May  2 and  3,  1888.  ‘‘The  Anti- 
Saloon  Pepnhlican  movement  has  now  reached  a 
magnitude  and  a momentum  which  nothing  can 
withstand,”  the  call  declared.  “It  no  longer  pleads 
for  a hearing.  It  commands  compliance.  It  pro- 
poses to  place  the  Republican  party  where  it  be- 
longs, positively  and  finally  on  the  side  of  home 
and  public  safety,  as  against  the  saloon  system  and 
its  destructive  work.  . . . Speaking  for  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  Republican  voters  and  good 
citizens,  we  respectfully,  hut  most  urgently,  ask 
our  brethren  of  the  Republican  National  Conven- 
tion, which  is  to  meet  in  Chicago  in  June,  to  in- 
corporate in  their  platform  of  princij)les  a declara- 
tion of  hostility  to  the  saloon  as  clear  and  as  em- 
phatic as  the  English  language  can  make  it.”  The 
conference  sent  a deputation,  headed  by  Dr.  H.  K. 
Carroll,  to  plead  the  cause  before  the  platform 
committee  at  the  Republican  national  convention. 

This  seed  again  fell  on  stony  ground.  The 
convention  platform  made  this  declaration : “We 
reaffirm  our  unswerving  devotion  to  . . . the 


276  A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

autonomy  reserved  to  the  States  under  the  Con- 
stitution; to  the  personal  rights  and  liberties  of 
the  citizens  in  all  the  States  and  Territories  of 
the  Union.”  Just  before  adjournment,  however, 
several  days  after  the  platform  had  been  adopted, 
the  convention,  on  prudent  second  thought,  tacked 
on  the  following  “Boutelle”  resolution:  “The  first 
concern  of  all  good  government  is  the  virtue  and 
sobriety  of  the  people,  and  the  purity  of  the  home. 
The  Republican  party  cordially  sympathizes  with 
all  wise  and  well-directed  efforts  for  the  promo- 
tion of  temperance  and  morality,” — ^^vhich  was 
scarcely  either  as  clear  or  as  emphatic  as  the  Eng- 
lish language  could  have  made  it. 

Soon  after  this  the  Anti-Saloon  Republican 
movement,  which  had  enlisted  in  its  behalf  some 
of  the  best  men  and  women  in  the  party,  passed 
into  history. 

8.  The  National  Anti-Saloon  League. 

This  is  the  latest  agency  in  the  field,  to  many 
a kind  of  David  of  the  Lord’s  host,  which,  with 
omni-partisanship  as  its  sling,  and  agitation,  legis- 
lation, and  enforcement,  as  its  missiles,  is  to  de- 
stroy that  arrogant  Groliath,  the  American  saloon. 


Legal  and  Political  Measures.  277 

This  organization  seeks  to  enlist  all  existing  tem- 
perance forces  in  united  and  aggressive  work.  It 
is  affiliated  with  no  party,  and  has  no  party  ends 
to  serve;  members  of  all  parties  work  together 
under  it.  In  this  it  differs  from  the  other  move- 
ments which  went  before  it.  The  Prohibition 
party  seeks  to  overthrow  the  liquor  traffic  through 
“third  party  action the  Anti-Saloon  Republican 
movement  sought  to  attain  this  end  through  the 
Republican  party;  the  ITational  League,  through 
any  means  except  through  the  Prohibition  party, 
— it  being  really  a move  in  hostility  to  that  party. 
The  Anti-Saloon  League  is  not  sectarian,  yet  it 
is  essentially  Christian, — the  Church  at  work  for 
temperance,  engaging  with  weapons  both  of  spir- 
itual and  of  carnal  warfare  its  most  opposing  and 
destructive  foe.  Unity,  Perseverance,  Victory, 
are  its  watchwords. 

The  Anti-Saloon  League  labors  for  practical 
results.  While  the  destruction  of  the  saloon  and 
the  liquor  traffic  is  its  ultimate  goal,  it  insists  on 
doing  the  immediate  best  thing.  Where  it  can  not 
destroy,  it  seeks  to  cripple.  By  insisting  on  the 
enforcement  of  existing  restrictive  laws ;-  by  urg- 


A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


ing  the  passage  of  more  stringent  and  prohibitive 
laws;  and  by  literature  and  agitation  awakening 
a sustaining  public  sentiment,  the  League  is  labor- 
ing in  every  practical  way  to  restrict,  restrain, 
and  suppress  the  legalized  saloon.  Its  working 
principle  is : “The  solution  of  the  Saloon  problem 
is,  Ho  Saloon.” 

The  first  Anti-Saloon  League  was  formed  at 
a imion  Sunday  evening  meeting,  June  4,  1893, 
in  the  old  First  Church,  at  Oberlin,  Ohio.  It 
was  the  result  of  the  faith  and  agitation  of  Rev. 
Howard  H.  Russell,  whose  efforts  toward  secur- 
ing temperance  legislation  and  law  enforcement, 
during  previous  pastorates  in  Ohio  and  Missouri, 
had  convinced  him  of  the  necessity  of  such  an 
organization.  The  Ohio  League  became  the  model 
for  other  State  Leagues,  and  in  December,  1895, 
the  American  Anti-Saloon  League  was  formed  in 
Washington.  As  an  opportunist  in  politics,  the 
Anti-Saloon  League  showed  its  most  decisive  hand, 
so  far,  in  the  Ohio  election,  in  the  fall  of  1905, 
when  it  defeated  Myron  T.  Herrick  for  Grovemor, 
for  his  subserviency  to  the  liquor  interests. 


(in.) 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

Ground  Won  and  Ground  of  Conflict. 

In  tlie  long  struggle  for  sobriety,  wbicb  has 
been  waged  with  unprecedented,  almost  unabated, 
vigor  during  the  century  just  closed,  two  great 
and  decisive  issues  have  been  successively  fought 
: and  won.  The  first  has  established  a correct  per- 
^ sonal  principle  for  the  individual;  the  second,  a 
I correct  public  policy  for  the  State.  These  are, 
* in  turn: 

; 1.  Total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquors 

as  a beverage. 

This  proposition  has  really  passed  the  stage 
of  argiunent.  Time  settles  some  things,  and  this 
must  be  considered  one  of  them.  After  one  hundred 
years  of  earnest  debate,  when  the  champions  of 
both  sides  have  been  heard,  it  is  time,  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  free  discussion,  to  apply  the  rule  of 
closure.  Xo  case  in  law  can  drag  on  endlessly. 
When  the  evidence  is  all  in,  and  the  bearing  of  this 
279 


280  A Centuky  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

evidence  on  the  case  at  hand  and  its  relation  to  the 
law  in  question  has  been  set  forth,  the  case  goes  to 
the  jury  for  a verdict.  It  is  many  years  now 
since  the  Christian  conscience,  on  gathering  evi- 
dence from  the  drinking  customs  of  society,  first 
gave  its  decision  that  even  the  moderate  regular 
use  of  strong  drink  is  indefensible.  Upon  every 
subsequent  appeal  this  verdict  has  only  been  re- 
affirmed, and  upon  increasingly  strong  and  univer- 
, sal  testimony.  That  verdict,  hearing  to-day  the 
I seal  of  the  best  thought  and  best  life  in  Christen- 
^ dom,  the  tribunal  of  ultimate  appeal,  must  be  con- 
sidered final.  Judgment  is  already  being  served ; 
beginning,  as  always,  with  the  house  of  God. 

The  findings  in  the  case  are,  in  substance,  as 
follows : 

Firsl — The  liquor  habit  is  a fearful  habit, 
klen  become  in  bondage  to  it  with  fetters  as  cruel 
and  hopeless  as  ever  shackled  felon  or  slave.  There 
i is  no  drinking  community  that  has  not  its  slaves 
to  this  appetite.  Tinder  the  power  of  this  habit 
a man  not  only  imdermines  his  health,  squanders 
I his  substance,  and  brings  himself  and  his  family 
to  want;  but  what  is  worse,  he  loses  his  self -re- 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


281 


spect  and  the  respect  of  his  fellow-men.  His  own 
manhood,  the  dearest  interests  of  his  family,  the 
most  sacred  things  in  life — all  are  sacrificed  to  his 
love  for  liquor.  He  loses  his  interest  in  events 
around  him,  and  becomes  gradually  insensible  to 
his  reproach.  Before  the  eyes  of  all,  who  are  help- 
less to  save  him,  he  goes  down  daily,  and  passes 
hence,  a hopeless  failure  and  wreck  of  a man,  to 
an  ignominious  grave.  Aside  from,  and  in  addi- 
tion to,  this  typical  instance  there  are  all  degrees 
of  alcoholism  and  occasional  drunkenness,  with 
their  varying  concomitants  of  shame  and  evil.  The 
blanched  bones  from  a million  graves  rise  up  and 
cry  out  to  the  living.  Beware  the  drunkard’s  drink! 

Secondly — This  human  wreckage,  which  no 
.man  can  number  or  find  out,  has  all  come  from 
^moderate  and  supposedly  harmless  drinking.  The 
I custom  of  society  which  says  that  the  moderate  use 
? of  liquor  is  permissible,  is  responsible  for  it.  From 
moderation  men  have  ever  gone  over  to  excess,  in 
spite  of  self-assurance  that  they  would  not,  and 
determination  that  they  should  not.  In  spite  of  all 
preaching  and  moralizing  that  men  exercise  self- 
control  and  remain  within  the  bounds  of  modera- 


282  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

tion,  they  have  ever  been  unable  presently  to  ex- 
ercise such  self-control,  and  have  ever  exceeded 
such  prescribed  bounds.  To  have  totally  renounced 
the  cup  in  the  beginning  would  alone  have  saved 
them. 

Thirdly — The  strong  have  a duty  toward  the 
/'weak.  If  the  safety  and  salvation  of  the  latter 
lies  only  in  entire  abstinence,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
former  to  encourage  these,  by  their  own  example, 
to  practice  such  abstinence.  ISTo  man  lives  to  him- 
self, and  no  man  dies  to  himself.  Xo  man  may 
put  an  occasion  of  stumbling  in  his  brother’s  way. 
Xay,  he  must  help  him.  If  my  drinking  liquor 
causes  my  brother,  who  follows  my  example,  to  he 
made  weak  and  to  fall,  I will  quit  drinking  for  his 
sake.  This  is  according  to  the  highest  code  of 
ethics  that  the  world  has  received,  and  my  con- 
science approves  that  it  is  right.  My  conduct  in 
this  particular  becomes  from  now  on  a matter  of 
principle.  Xot  to  do  so,  in  the  face  of  such  rea- 
soning, would  be  unprincipled. 

The  moderate  drinker  walks  before  all  the 
world  in  dangerous  places,  which  when  others  try 
to  do,  with  less  steady  nerve  and  sure  balance,  they 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


283 


fall.  His  influence  as  far  as  the  example  he  sets, 
therefore,  is  worse  than  that  of  the  drunkard.  Ho 
one  cares  to  imitate  the  miserable  wretch  who  falls 
reeling  in  the  gutter.  The  sight  of  him  acts  rather 
as  a deterrent  to  the  use  of  any  liquor.  But  when 
your  leading  citizen,  who  is  respected  by  all,  is 
seen  to  take  his  daily  drink,  every  mother’s  hoy 
will  reason  that  what  that  man  does  can  not  he 
wrong  for  him  to  do ; and  some  mother  will  know 
sorrow. 

Did  the  beverage  use  of  liquor  serve  any  neces- 
sary and  indispensable  purpose  in  our  daily  econ- 
omy, the  case  would  be  different,  and  the  ethics 
of  moderation  might  rest  upon  a more  valid  foun- 
I dation.  But  drinking  is  not  indispensable;  is  not 
I necessary  at  all.  It  is  not  necessary  to  make  men 
; healthy  and  strong.  The  athlete  and  prize-flghter 
j discard  liquor  when  they  go  into  training,  and 
; men  and  women  everywhere  enjoy  good  health 
j without  it.  Liquor  is  not  necessary  to  promote 
? longevity.  If  any  corroboration  were  needed  in 
(.  addition  to  our  common  observation,  the  actuaries’ 
tables  of  our  life  insurance  companies  are  conclu- 
sive on  this  point.  Liquor  is  not  necessary,  again. 


284:  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Eefoem. 

to  make  the  brain  clearer  or  tbe  band  steadier.  In 
our  large  industrial  and  commercial  establishments 
preference  is  given,  other  things  being  equal,  to 
. those  who  do  not  use  liquor;  and  in  not  a few  in- 
I dustries,  such  as  railroading  and  the  like,  where 
I the  largest  risks  and  gravest  responsibilities  are 
involved,  it  is  becoming  increasingly  the  practice 
to  employ  no  man  whatever  who  uses  liquor  in 
any  form.  Lastly,  liquor  is  not  indispensable  to 
the  promotion  of  those  interests  in  life  which 
stand  out  above  all  as  chiefest,  namely,  the  per- 
sonal and  domestic  virtues — chastity,  honor,  rev- 
erence, love. 

These  things  need  no  more  than  the  stating. 
Many  of  them  are  so  obvious,  and  all  of  them  are 
established  upon  such  evidence,  that  there  can  be 
scarcely  any  one  who  would  presume  to  enter  a 
denial.  As  a matter  of  fact,  the  average  man  who 
uses  liquor  will  not  pretend  that  he  does  so  for  any 
of  these  reasons.  His  excuse,  if  he  takes  the 
trouble  to  offer  one,  is  that  it  does  n’t  hurt  any- 
body ; it  does  n’t  hurt  him.  But  no  man  can  look 
upon  the  ruin  wrought  among  men  by  strong  drink, 
and  reflect  that  such  catastrophe  would  have  been 
averted,  and  would  again  be  averted  from  a sure 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


285 


recurrence,  except  only  for  the  drinking  custom  of 
society, — no  man,  we  say,  can  understand  this  and 
continue  to  raise  the  cup  to  his  lips,  for  the  mere 
pleasure,  and  escape  guilt.  Some  mightier  po- 
tency for  good  will  have  to  he  established  for  our 
drinking  custom,  other  than  the  plea  that  it  does 
no  one  any  harm,  before,  in  view  of  the  appalling 
evils  that  flow  therefrom,  it  can  be  longer  justifled. 

Fourthly — Man  has  duties  toward  himself. 
[This,  placed  last  here,  should  perhaps  come  flrst. 
iSelf-preservation  is  nature’s  flrst  law.  And  self- 
jpreservation  means  not  the  saving  of  the  body 
merely,  but  the  saving  of  the  real  self — the  man. 
jSTo  prayer  is  more  oft  repeated  by  human  lips 
than  this.  Lead  us  not  into  temptation ! Which 
means  at  the  very  least,  if  it  means  anything 
whatever,  that  man  is  not  to  walk  into  temptation 
with  open  eyes,  ji;st  for  pleasure.  To  defy  dan- 
ger and  take  serious  risks  when  some  prize  of  love 
or  humanity  is  to  be  won,  this  is  the  act  of  a hero. 
But  to  risk  both  body  and  soul  recklessly,  when 
nothing  is  sought  to  be  gained  and  everything  may 
be  lost,  is  nothing  less  than  foolhardy,  which  is 
not  merely  wrong,  but  may  be  wicked. 


286  A Centtjet  of  Dkink  Eefoesi. 

jSTow,  it  has  just  been  said  that  the  strong  have 
a duty  toward  the  weak.  But  with  reference  to 
the  use  of  intoxicating  liquor,  in  the  power  to  re- 
sist its  evils,  ^ho  are  the  weak,  and  who  the 
strong  ? How  is  this  to  be  determined,  and  when  ? 
In  the  beginning  were  they  not  all  strong,  as  they 
thought,  and  was  there  one  who  had  not  unques- 
tioned confidence  that  he  would  never -be  brought 
under  the  power  of  strong  drink  ? Yes,  some  there 
will  be  who  will  succumb,  each  man  knew,  but  he 
would  never  be  one  of  them.  This  was  the  assur- 
ance, not  of  a few,  but  of  every  single  man.  The 
final  roll-call  revealed  that  many  had  succmnbed. 

What  principle,  now,  shall  the  oncoming  gen- 
eration adopt  for  its  guidance,  from  among  whom 
strong  drink  is  to  reap  its  next  harvest  of  death  ? 
Can  it  be  told  from  the  appearance,  or  size,  or  age, 
or  birth,  or  nationality,  or  intelligence,  or  wealth, 
or  any  other  outward  circumstance  or  condition  of 
the  individual  who  are  to  be  its  outcasts  through 
drink  ? Absolutely  no.  Experience  alone  can  de- 
termine that,  and  "then  only  when  it  is  too  late. 
Every  man  who  drinks  liquor  takes  chances  for 
evil.  Whether  these  are  small  or  great,  he  has  no 


Guouisrt)  OF  Conflict. 


287 


means  of  knowing  beforehand.  If  he  can  not  re- 
sist the  enslaving  power  of  liquor,  he  will  not  be- 
come aware  or  convinced  of  it  until  his  O'wn  expe- 
rience has  brought  him  into  such  enslaved  condi- 
tion ; and  then,  like  those  who  go  in  at  the  gate  of 
the  scarlet  woman,  he  will  never  return.  Even 
those  who  have  for  years  tasted  of  the  intoxicating 
cup  without  apparent  harm,  can  not  say  that  they 
may  not  yet  be  brought  under  its  power. 

Thus,  while  a kindly  and  unselfish  regard  for 
his  fellow-beings  should  lead  a man,  for  the  sake 
of  those  who  are  weak  and  are  sure  to  err  through 
drink,  to  renounce  the  cup,  a sober  regard  for 
human  worth  and  a decent  respect  to  his  Maker 
should  lead  him  to  take  care  of  his  own  life.  ISTo 
man  may  climb  to  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  and 
cast  himself  down. 

Up  to  this  point  we  have  accepted  the  common 
distinction  between  drinkers  as  “moderate,”  and 
“intemperate.”  We  have  assmned  the  contention 
of  the  former  to  be  valid ; namely,  that  while  mod- 
erate drinking  may  not  do  any  particular  good, 
neither  does  it  do  any  particular  harm.  We  have 
pointed  out,  upon  the  basis  of  this  very  contention. 


288  A Century  of  Drink  Eeform. 

that  instead  of  making  the  moderate  indulgence  in 
liquor  permissible,  the  right  rule  of  conduct  still 
condemns  it.  Man  should  abstain  entirely,  in  the 
first  place,  as  a right  example  to  the  weak;  and 
for  his  sake,  secondly,  in  removing  himself  from  a 
temptation  which  he  has  no  right  to  assume  that 
he  has  exceptional  power  to  resist;  it  has  ruined 
so  many.  But  there  is  a third  consideration  which 
makes  the  common  beverage  use  of  liquor,  even  in 
so-called  moderation,  indefensible.  It  lies  in  the 
nature  and  effects  of  moderate  drinking  itself. 
This  shall  be  our  fiual  inquiry  upon  our  present 
theme. 

. As  used  in  common  speech,  what  do  we  really 
■;  mean  by  moderate  drinking  ? And  is  such  drink- 
I ing  harmless  ? While  the  term  is  not  veiy  accu- 
rately defined,  we  may  say  that  a ‘^moderate"’ 
drinker  is  usually  thought  of  as  a person  who  has 
not  been  brought  into  visible  bondage  to  liquor. 
He  drinks  regnlarly,  or  on  occasion,  but  he  has 
not  formed  what  men  distingnish  as  the  drink 
habit.  Although  he  does  not  do  so,  yet  it  is  said 
that  he  could  let  liquor  entirely  alone,  if  he  wanted. 
He  is  not  known  as  a man  who  gets  drunk.  To 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


289 


the  commou  eye  he  displays  none  of  the  physical 
symptoms  that  are  clearly  attendant  upon  typical 
cases  of  alcoholism.  This,  in  a word,  by  inclusion 
and  exclusion,  gives  us  a rough  composite  which 
men  would  recognize  as  that  of  the  moderate 
drinker. 

iN’ow,  is  evil — both  moral  and  physical — all  on 
the  side  of  that  which  is  excluded  by  this  defini- 
tion of  the  moderate  drinker  ? May  not  the  con- 
tinual introduction  of  alcoholic  liquors  into  the 
human  system  exercise  a disturbing  influence  on 
the  finer,  subtler  functions  of  body  and  brain,  and 
effect  slow  degenerative  changes  in  tissue,  which 
the  average  man  is  not  likely  or  able  to  discern? 
Do  not  men  die  daily,  as  a matter  of  fact,  from 
alcoholism  of  the  heart,  of  the  kidneys,  or  of  the 
liver,  under  different  names,  without  the  world, 
or  they  themselves  even,  ever  knowing  it, — men 
against  whom  the  suspicion  was  never  raised  that 
they  drank  other  than  moderately  ? Who  knows 
in  how  many  cases  of  mental  and  bodily  disease 
alcohol  may  not  form,  if  not  the  immediate  or 
direct  cause,  at  least  a predisposing  or  contribut- 
ing cause  ? Or  how  many  years  may  not  have  been 
19 


290  A Centuet  of  Deink  REFOEii. 

cut  off  from  a man’s  life  because  of  alcohol ; or  to 
what  extent  the  physical  weaknesses  and  peculiar- 
ities of  any  of  us,  our  mental  and  moral  incapaci- 
ties, may  not  have  been  determined  by  the  drink- 
ing habits  of  our  progenitors.  And  aside  from  the 
physical  changes  that  may  be  wrought  by  the  long 
and  constant  use  of  strong  drink,  are  there  not 
some  very  plain  moral  effects  visible  immediately 
upon  indulgence  in  the  cup  by  those  who  would 
resent  the  imputation  that  they  were  drinking 
j other  than  moderately?  The  loosening  of  the 
^ tongue,  and  the  bonds  of  self-restraint  generally ; 
the  racy  story,  the  questionable  jest,  the  liberties 
of  speech  and  of  conduct — are  these  to  be  excused, 
if  not  exactly  as  exemplary,  yet  as  harmless  ? The 
German  is  often  cited  as  a model  instance  of  mod- 
erate drinking.  And  what  effect  has  such  drink- 
ing had  upon  this  people  ? Is  it  not  a fact  of  ob- 
servation by  thoughtful  men  that  the  beer  drink- 
ing of  Germany  has  stifled  the  idealism  and  the 
finer  feeling  of  its  people,  and  has  produced,  espe- 
cially among  the  academic  youth  of  the  nation,  as 
seen  in  its  beer  jokes,  its  beer  literature,  and  its 
beer  conversation,  an  almost  incredible  vulgarity  ? 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


291 


Do  not  some  of  the  foremost  medical  men  in  Ger- 
many to-day  declare  this  to  be  a fact  ? And  did  we 
not  read  just  in  yesterday’s  papers  of  a masterful 
I address  on  ^‘Alcohol  and  Art,”  delivered  by  Pro- 
I fessor  Behrens,  Director  of  the  School  of  Arts  and 
. Crafts  at  Dusseldorf,  before  the  ninth  Interna- 
tional Anti-Alcoholic  Congress  in  session  at 
Bremen,  in  the  presence  of  fourteen  hundred  dele- 
gates from  fifteen  nations,  how  the  drinking  habit 
is  dulling  that  spiritual  aspiration  and  finer  per- 
ception in  men  so  necessary  to  the  greatest  achieve- 
ments in  art  ? Is  not  conduct  also  one  of  the  fine 
arts,  nay,  the  highest  among  them ; and  does  it  re- 
quire, for  its  highest  achievements,  soul  qualities 
less  spiritual  and  less  refined  than  to  carve  a statue 
or  paint  a picture  ? Is  it  a matter  of  small  con- 
cern that  the  best  in  life  should  thus  be  quenched 
and  cut  off  by  a public  habit  of  self-indulgence  that 
finds  its  stronghold  in  custom,  and  dares  even  to 
claim  the  sanction  of  religion  ? 

All  this,  it  must  be  remembered,  comes  within 
the  pale  of  moderate,  every-day  drinking,  and  is 
not  usually  even  mentioned  in  the  indictment 
against  society’s  drinking  customs.  Yet  the  pres- 


292  A Centuky  oe  Dkij^k  REEOKii. 

ent  writer  does  not  hesitate  unreservedly  to  con- 
fess that  it  was  his  observation,  in  boyhood  days, 
of  these  very  effects  of  moderate  drinking  in  a 
German  speaking  community — the  relaxed  man- 
ners in  social  drinking,  of  a people  otherwise  and 
naturally  decent — that  first  moved  him  to  disgust, 
and  led  subsequently  to  determined  convictions 
upon  this  entire  question. 

; Nothing  has  been  said  thus  far  of  the  scientific 
• phase  of  the  alcohol  question.  We  have  purposely 
: refrained  from  so  doing.  lio  great  moral  reform, 
in  the  first  place,  ever  comes  through  the  labora- 
tory. It  must  come  through  the  conscience,  by 
such  facts  and  reasoning  as  lie  within  the  scope  of 
common  sense  and  the  common  powers  of  tmder- 
standing.  If  the  people  believe  not  Woses  and  the 
prophets,  neither  will  they  believe  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead.  Again,  Satan  himself  can  quote 
authority,  which  serves  only  to  confuse  or  deceive, 
unless  one  can  read  with  discrimination.  Thus, 
for  instance,  when  Professor  W.  O.  Atwater,  of 
Middletown,  Connecticut,  conducted  some  experi- 
ments a few  years  ago  upon  a university  janitor, 
whom  he  had  confined  in  a specially  constructed 


GEOTTisri)  OP  Conflict. 


293 


metal  chamber,  which  he  called  a ‘‘respiratory 
calorimeter,”  and  fed  partly  on  alcohol, — when 
the  professor  announced  that  he  found  the  alcohol 
to  have  been  oxidized  in  the  system,  and  to  have 
served  some  uses  as  fuel,  though  it  did  not  make 
new  tissue  or  repair  the  machine,  all  the  drinking 
world — men  who  care  more  to  bolster  up  a habit 
than  to  know  the  truth — shouted  for  Atwater.  As 
though  the  careful  conclusion  that  a given  quantity 
of  alcohol  can,  under  certain  conditions,  be  oxi- 
dized in  a healthy  human  body  were  a Come  on 
boys!  for  everybody  to  step  up  and  take  a drink. 
It  would  seem  that  if  it  requires  such  painstaking, 
careful  experimentation  by  an  expert  to  determine 
the  value  of  alcohol  for  the  human  system,  it 
should  require  an  equally  careful  prescription  by 
an  expert — the  physician — to  determine  under 
what  conditions,  and  in  what  quantities,  alcohol 
should  be  administered  in  any  given  case. 

These  experiments  of  Professor  Atwater,  it 
5 may  be  mentioned,  were  made  under  the  auspices 
I of  the  Committee  of  Fifty,  a self-constituted  body, 
I j since  1893,  for  the  impartial  study  of  the  liquor 
^ question.  The  gentlemen  comprising  this  body 


294  A Centuey  of  Deiftk  Refoem. 

hold  very  conservative  views,  for  the  most  part, 
in  the  matter  of  temperance. 

On  this  subject  of  the  attitude  of  medical 
science  toward  alcoholic  liquors  we  will  quote  but 
a single  authority.  We  deem  this  sufficient,  first, 
because  of  the  pre-eminence  of  the  person  among 
the  recent  men  of  medicine  in  America ; and  sec- 
ondly, because  his  statement  is  safely  conservative, 
representing  a position  from  which  the  world  will 
probably  never  again  move  backward.  The  testi- 
mony is  that  of  the  late  Dr.  William  Pepper,  Pro- 
vost of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  author  of 
the  gTeat  work  on  medical  practice,  who  says,  as 
quoted  by  Senator  Henry  W.  Blair  in  his  book, 
‘‘The  Temperance  Movement 

“Commonly  one  hears  the  question  put  in  this 
form : Is  alcohol  a food  or  a poison  ? It  is  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other.  It  is  not  a food  in  the  com- 
mon and  correct  acceptation  of  the  term,  though 
it  has  points  of  resemblance  with  foods.  It  is  not 
strictly  speaking  a poison,  though  it  often  produces 
highly-poisonous  effects.  It  is  to  be  regarded  as  a 
medicine  or  a drug,  and  belongs  to  the  same  class 
with  opium,  Indian  hemp,  tobacco,  and  some  anal- 


Geotjnd  of  Conflict. 


295 


ogous  substances.  Nearly  all  healthy  persons  can 
with  impunity  take  occasionally  a small  amount  of 
dilute  alcohol.  With  some  individuals,  however, 
even  the  smallest  quantity  disagrees  and  disorders 
digestion ; on  the  other  hand,  a very  small  propor- 
tion of  individuals  seem  able  to  take  large  amounts 
regTilarly  for  many  years  without  damage.  But  I 
do  not  doubt  that  this  impunity  is  more  apparent 
than  real,  and  that  nearly  all  such  persons  are 
slowly  but  surely  injured  by  the  habit.  One  of 
the  worst  features  of  the  action  of  alcohol  in  a 
large  number  of  young  persons  is  that,  though 
taken  in  small  amount  and  even  in  the  form  of 
light  wines  or  beer,  its  first  agreeable  effect  is  fol- 
lowed by  a feeling  of  lassitude  and  depression, 
readily  mistaken  for  debility,  and  suggesting  a 
repetition  of  the  stimulant.  But  these  unpleasant 
feelings  are  the  direct  result  of  the  presence  in 
the  blood  and  tissues  of  poisonous  matters,  coming 
from  the  imperfect  digestion  of  the  alcohol,  or 
food  with  whose  complete  assimilation  the  dose  of 
alcohol  has  interfered.  Here  evidently  is  a fruit- 
ful source  of  functional  disorder ; and  still  more 
is  it  a source  of  gradually-increasing  use,  ending 


296  A Centuey  oe  Deiek  Refoem. 


in  actual  excess,  with  its  inseparable  physical  and 
moral  degradation.  It  is  impossible  to  exclude 
from  our  consideration  this  enslaving  tendency 
which  separates  alcohol  so  widely  from  all  ordinary 
articles  of  diet,  and  relegates  it  to  a special  class 
fof  drugs.  I am  indeed  satisfied  that  all  persons 
in  good  health  are  better  without  alcohol  in  any 
form  or  in  any  amount,  as  a regular  beverage.  If 
this  is  true  of  dilute  alcohol,  by  which  I mean  light 
wines  or  beer,  or  greatly-diluted  spirit,  it  may  be 
asserted  without  hesitation  that  all  stronger  forms 
of  alcohol  capable  of  causing  positive  local  stimu- 
lation or  irritation  of  the  stomach,  should  be  re- 
garded purely  as  drugs,  and  be  used  exclusively 
under  medical  advice.  Their  habitual  use  by 
healthy  persons  is  highly  injurious  and  involves 
the  risk  of  developing  serious  disease.  It  is,  how- 
ever, impossible  to  deny  the  great  value  of  alcohol 
even  in  large  amounts  during  critical  stages  of 
some  acute  diseases.  And  I can  speak  with  confi- 
dence of  the  beneficial  effects,  in  suitable  cases  as 
determined  by  a physician,  of  small  amounts  of 
dilute  spirit,  or  of  generous  wine,  taken  as  a stim- 
ulant by  weak  and  elderly  persons.  While,  how- 


Geotind  oe  Conflict.  297 

ever,  we  admit  the  therapeutic  value  of  alcohol  in 
these  and  other  suitable  cases,  it  is  clear  to  me 
that  every  medical  man  should  prescribe  it  with  a 
distinct  recognition  in  each  individual  case  of 
the  special  danger  attaching  to  its  habitual  use.” 
; If  alcohol,  then,  is  not  properly  a food  for  the 
I body,  hut  must  be  classed  as  a drug,  or  medicine, 
; with  opium  and  kindred  substances,  it  would  seem 
that  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  a rational, 
“moderate”  use — constantly,  indiscriminately,  and 
self-prescribed,  by  all  classes,  and  on  all  occasions 
— of  such  drug  or  medicine. 

But  if  all  this  does  not  yet  make  clear  this  en- 
tire matter  of  moderation,  we  will  add  a final  tes- 
timony in  the  form  of  an  experiment.  In  order 
to  determine  accurately  just  what  quantity  of  al- 
cohol is  harmless  and  “moderate,”  and  what  quan- 
tity is  injurious  and  therefore  “intemperate,” 
numerous  thorough-going  experiments  have  been 
made  independently  by  men  whose  scientific  au- 
thority is  unquestioned,  with  the  following  results : 
Doses  of  7-10-15  grams  (one-fourth  to  one-half 
ounce)  of  alcohol,  which  corresponds  to  a glass  of 
wine  or  a pint  of  German  beer,  are  sufficient  regu- 


298  A Centuet  of  Deink  Refoem. 


larly  to  paralyze,  retard,  or  disturb  all  tbe  central 
and  centripetal  brain  functions.  By  delicate 
measurements  it  is  foimd  that  tbe  number  of  mis- 
takes in  such  exercises  as  typesetting,  memoriz- 
ing, calculating,  etc.,  is  increased.  Sensibility  is 
blunted,  and  mental  reaction  is  retarded.  Tbe  sub- 
jective consequences  of  tbe  effect  are  agreeable; 
one  feels  beat,  cold,  and  pain  less ; one  is  not 
merely  less  accurate,  but  less  scrupulous,  less 
afraid.  A very  slight  veil  of  illusion  bas  spread 
over  reality,  wbicb  is  tbe  beginning  of  later  intoxi- 
cation by  larger  doses. 

Sucb  are  tbe  first  effects  of  alcoholic  liquor. 
This  explains  at  once  why  men  are  tempted  to 
drink;  why  tbe  habit  grows,  and  why  drinking 
usually  goes  before  immorality  and  crime. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  advanced  status  of  tbe 
total  abstinence  cause  in  this  and  other  English- 
speaking  lands,  when  we  note  the  awakening  of 
other  nations  to  the  import  of  this  refonn,  and 
read  that  such  men,  for  instance,  as  Eorel,  of 
Zurich;  von  Bunge,  of  Basel;  Weigert,  of  Frank- 
fort ; Delbruck,  of  Bremen ; Moehbins,  of  Leipsic, 
and  lastly,  Kraepelin,  of  Heidelberg,  who  stands 


Gkottnd  of  Conflict. 


299 


at  the  head  of  authorities  on  diseases  of  the  mind, 
and  to  whose  clinic  medical  students  from  all 
lands  resort, — when  such  men,  we  repeat,  change 
their  personal  habits  and  prejudices  of  a lifetime, 
and  renounce  even  the  moderate  use  of  beer  and 
light  wines ; and  raising  their  voice  and  pen  against 
the  custom  of  a whole  people,  become  pronounced 
leaders  in  a propagandism  for  complete  abstinence, 
— the  friend  of  sobriety  and  of  humanity,  who  has 
labored  long  and  hard  in  the  cause,  may  well  re- 
joice. It  mates  one  feel  that  now  is  our  redemp- 
tion nearer  than  when  we  first  believed. 

2.  The  suppression,  hy  State  and  nation,  of 
the  traffic  in  alcoholic  liquors  for  beverage  pur- 
poses. 

This  is  the  other  decisive  issue  that  has  been 
won  in  the  long  warfare  against  the  drink  custom 
of  society.  This  is  clearer,  if  anything,  than  the 
first.  When  we  come  to  consider  a public  institu- 
tion like  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors,  which 
fattens,  not  upon  the  ambitions  and  virtues  of  man- 
kind, but  upon  its  vices;  which  pumps  into  the 
body  politic — without  surcease  night  nor  day — 
disease,  insanity,  degeneracy,  pauperism,  lust, 


300  A Century  of  Drink  Eeform. 

crime,  corruption,  pain,  and  woe, — an  institution, 
we  repeat,  whicti  does  this,  and  can  produce  no 
record  of  good — there  is  but  one  attitude  that  a 
State  can  consistently  assume  toward  it,  and  that 
is  its  suppression.  The  right  of  a State  to  do  this 
is  no  longer  open  to  question ; nor  its  duty.  TVhat 
a man  eats  and  drinks  is  his  own  concern  prima- 
rily; and  any  change  which  one  may  seek  to  effect 
in  these  habits  of  an  individual  must  he  left  to 
reason  and  moral  appeal.  But  what  a man  sets 
up  business  in,  and  keeps  open  house  for,  on  our 
main  thoroughfares,  becomes  public  business,  and 
may  be  suppressed  iu  the  interests  of  decency  and 
good  order.  As  far  as  lies  within  this  sphere, 
what  the  people’s  welfare  demands,  the  State  not 
only  may  but  must  do. 

To  say  that  the  saloon  exists  only  in  response 
to  a human  demand,  namely,  the  natural  craving 
for  liquor  in  man,  which  no  legislation  can  take 
away,  will  hardly  do.  If  this  were  true,  indeed, 
that  the  saloon  exists  to  wait  upon,  and  take  ad- 
vantage of,  a hmnan  weakness,  it  would  scarcely 
make  this  business  out  to  be  of  a character  that 
should  receive  the  official  approval  of  a State.  In 


Gkotjnd  of  Conflict. 


301 


such  case  the  State  should  at  the  least  withdraw 
from  it  its  express  permission  and  protection,  and 
give  the  moral  forces  among  its  citizens  a fair 
chance  to  cope  with  this  appetite.  But  instead  of 
saying  that  the  saloon  merely  supplies  a univer- 
sally existing  appetite,  it  would  he  nearer  the  whole 
truth  to  say  that  the  saloon  first  incites  the  appe- 
tite which  it  so  cheerfully  ministers  to.  Men  learn 
to  drink  in  the  saloon.  The  open  door,  the  screens, 
the  light  and  attractions  withiu,  the  free  lunch  and 
free  drinks,  these  draw  men  in — are  intended  to 
draw  them  in.  Did  the  saloon  exist  just  to  satisfy 
some  inborn,  irresistible  appetite,  there  would  be 
no  need  for  such  attractive  and  elaborate  saloon 
furnishings.  The  man  who  goes  in  because  he 
must  have  his  drink  cares  nothing  for  plate  mir- 
rors and  paintings.  He  will  get  to  the  bar  if  the 
floor  is  n’t  paved  with  silver  dollars.  Indeed  he 
will  pass  through  dark  and  narrow  passageways, 
so  we  are  assured,  and  up  a rickety  flight  of  stairs 
perhaps,  and  before  a hole  in  the  wall  swallow  his 
dram  without  so  much  as  stopping  to  see  how  ^ar- 
tistic  the  surroundings  may  he.  Or  he  will  take 
it — yes,  will  be  delighted  with  the  chance  thus  to 


302  A Centuey  of  Deii^k:  Eefoem. 

get  it — from  the  man  who  brings  it  around  in  his 
bootleg,  or  in  a hollow  cane,  or  from  the  lady  who 
carries  it,  quite  conveniently,  in  a metallic  bustle. 
When  such  simple  means  and  small  outlay  of  cap- 
ital suiEce  to  satisfy  a want  that  our  Creator  has 
given  us,  it  would  show  but  small  business  sagacity 
to  rent  corner  blocks  and  put  in  them  paintings 
and  plate  glass,  and  wine  stalls,  and  family  en- 
trances, and  electric  fans,  and  salted  victuals,  and 
music,  and  games,  and  peeping,  and  other  devices, 
— poor  calculation,  we  say,  thus  to  squander  money 
if  people  will  drink  anyway.  A wise  man  would 
put  his  new  silver  dollars  in  the  bank  instead  of  in 
the  saloon  floor. 

Ho;  the  public  saloon  and  saloon  system  is  a 
vast  organized  inciter  of  human  appetite.  It  is 
an  onmipresent,  publicly  sanctioned  temptation  to 
evil.  It  exists  not  because  man,  by  nature,  must 
drink,  but  because,  by  proper  incentives,  man  can 
be  made  to  drink,  and  there  is  money  in  selling 
it  to  him.  The  craving  of  large  numbers  of  people 
for  .alcoholic  liquor  is  no  more  to  be  charged  to  the 
Creator  than  is  the  craving  of  certain  people  for 
opium,  or  of  many  for  tobacco,  or  the  irresistible 


Gkotjnd  of  Conflict. 


303 


tendency  of  others  to  utter  themselves  in  copious 
I profanity.  These,  and  others  like  them,  are 
I strictly  acquired  habits,  perverted  and  evil  habits, 
I acquired  in  association  with  companions  of  evil. 

; These  are  among  the  offenses  of  which  Holy  Writ 
says.  Woe  unto  them  by  whom  they  come ! The 
curse  of  Almighty  God  is  heavy  upon  the  tempter 
to  evil.  And  because  the  public  traffic  in  strong 
drink  is  precisely  such  a tempter  on  a vast  scale, 
provoking  those  very  elements  of  evil  in  man  which 
the  agencies  of  religion  and  of  civilization  are  con- 
stantly endeavoring  to  suppress  and  eradicate — 
and  undoing  in  large  measure  their  work, — the 
State  must  suppress  it.  The  State  must  exercise 
the  same  authority  by  which  it  now  permits  and 
protects  this  business,  to  prohibit  it.  It  must  do  it. 

Indeed,  this  scarcely  needs  any  lengthy  argu- 
ment. People  are  pretty  generally  agreed  that  no 
saloon  in  a community  is  better  than  the  best  exist- 
ing saloon,  and  that  if  the  liquor  business  could  be 
effaced  from  the  earth  it  would  be  a rich  bless- 
ing to  humanity.  Men  are  coming  to  agree  pretty 
well,  too,  that  the  saloon  can  never  be  removed  and 
the  traffic  suppressed  by  means  of  coffee-houses. 


304  A Centuky  of  Deink  Refoem. 

ice-cream  stands,  club  and  game  rooms,  reading- 
rooms,  drinking  fountains,  mission  rooms  and 
tracts.  As  long  as  the  saloon  has  permission  to  do 
business,  it  will  make  life  hard  for  all  of  these 
self -constituted  philanthropies;  it  will  run  them 
out  eventually.  The  saloon  must  be  removed  by 
the  same  power  which  gave  it  existence — the  State, 
namely;  and  through  the  same  agency — the  law, 
backed  by  a correct  public  sentiment.  Then  for 
coffee  and  ice-cream  and  reading-rooms ! Men 
are  pretty  well  agreed,  again,  that  to  abolish  pov- 
erty, or  to  equalize  industrial  conditions  that  pro- 
duce poverty,  would  not  remove  the  saloon,  or  miti- 
gate its  evils,  on  the  plea  that  it  is  poverty  which 
leads  men  to  drink.  If  it  were  thinkable  that  a 
man  who  has  no  money  will  regularly  go  to  the 
saloon  and  buy  that  which  he  has  no  money  to  buy, 
and  can  not  get  without  money ; if  it  were  psycho- 
logically probable  that  a man  Avho  is  poor  and  mis- 
erable will  deliberately  take  to  drink  which  makes 
him  yet  poorer  and  more  miserable, — it  is  a very 
plain  fact,  whether  or  not  men  take  to  drink  be- 
cause they  are  poor,  that  men  are  poor — and  their 
families — because  they  first  took  to  drink.  With 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


305 


the  saloon  doing  business,  itself  one  of  the  most 
constant  and  prolific  sources  of  poverty,  the  task 
of  abolishing  poverty  v/ill  be  uphill  work.  Let  the 
saloon  be  first  removed,  the  impoverisher  of  the 
people,  which  robs  men  of  their  hard-earned  money 
and  gives  them  only  rags  and  woe  in  return ; then 
the  grocer,  the  house  furnisher,  and  the  savings 
bank  will  have  their  inning. 

ITo;  all  this  does  not  have  to  be  seriously  ar- 
gued before  intelligent  people.  On  all  this  men 
are  sufiiciently  agreed.  But  what  beyond  this 
point  ? Here  men  can  not  see  as  clearly. 

While  we  have  been  brought  up  squarely  at 
the  point  of  prohibition,  still  the  fortunes  of  the 
prohibition  policy  have  been  so  varied,  and  its  suc- 
cess in  many  of  the  States  where  it  has  been  tried 
apparently  so  doubtful,  that  many  an  honest  man, 
who  has  no  difficulty  in  discerning  what  is  right  in 
principle,  begins  to  be  perplexed.  He  begins  to 
question  whether  what  is  right  and  good  is  also 
always  expedient — that  is,  practicable.  For  which 
misgiving,  in  this  instance,  there  seems  to  be  no 
little  ground.  Towns  and  cities  that  have  voted 
no-license  constantly  change  back,  after  a short 
20 


306  A Centuky  of  Defyk;  REFOEii. 

time,  to  the  saloon ; and  even  wliile  no-license  is  in 
operation  there  is  more  or  less  liquor  sold.  "Who 
can  be  sure  when  the  saloons  are  cleaned  out  that 
at  the  next  election  they  will  not  he  voted  back? 
And  is  this  not  true  of  State  prohibition  as  well  ? 
Just  about  an  even  dozen  States  that  have  had 
prohibition  in  our  ovm  land,  have  repealed  it — 
even  Vermont  recently,  after  fifty-one  years  of 
continuous  complete  prohibition,  and  Rew  Hamp- 
shire, after  forty-eight  years  of  partial  prohibition, 
early  in  the  year  of  grace,  1903.  Some  States, 
like  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  have  not 
fewer  than  twice  passed  a prohibitory  law,  and  as 
often  repealed  it ; while  after  all  the  hard  struggle 
for  prohibition  during  more  than  fifty  years  now, 
the  prohibition  policy  is  in  force  to-day  only  in 
three  States — Maine,  Kansas,  and  Korth  Dakota, 
with  forces  constantly  at  work  here  for  resubmis- 
sion and  repeal. 

Kow,  the  cause  for  such  reversal  of  policy  has 
not  been  that  the  people  had,  in  each  case,  discov- 
ered some  new  blessing  in  the  saloon,  or  that  they 
had  found  a better  method  of  stopping  its  ravages ; 
or  that  they  themselves  had  come  to  love  sobriety 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


307 


and  quiet  less, — but  rather,  generally  speaking, 
that  they  had  not  been  able  to  make  prohibition 
I work  well.  ‘^Very  hard  to  enforce,”  its  friends 
f reluctantly  conceded ; while  the  enemy  carried  the 
I day  with  the  slogan  that  prohibition  does  n’t  pro- 
ihibit;  that  as  much  liquor  is  sold  as  before,  and 
the  further  consideration — always  added — that 
the  people  get  no  revenue.  From  all  this  the  com- 
mon-sense generalization  is  made  that  it  is  never 
wise  to  enact  laws  in  advance  of  what  public  sen- 
timent will  sustain. 

These  observations  are  far  enough  removed 
from  the  beggarly  elements  of  the  reform  to  de- 
serve respectful  and  thorough  consideration.  We 
have  here  come  to  a point  where  it  will  require 
clear  and  penetrating  vision,  or  we  shall  lose  our 
way. 

It  is  true,  then,  that  the  real  reason  why  pro- 
hibitory laws  have  not  been  sustained,  and  the 
drink  question,  which  half  a century  ago  seemed 
surely  to  be  approaching  a final  settlement,  is  to- 
day as  far  as,  or  farther,  from  a solution  than 
ever, — is  the  real  reason  for  this  that  the  temper- 
ance sentiment  of  the  country  has  at  no  time  been 


308  A Centuky  oe  Deink  itEEOEii. 
jsufficiently  advanced  ? Sliall  we  say  that  this  sen- 

I 

Himent  has  not  only  not  grown,  but  that  the  con- 
tinued repeal  of  prohibitory  laws  has  been  evidence 
of  its  constant  recession;  and  that  to-day,  when 
' there  are  fewer  State  prohibition  laws  in  force  in 
; our  land  than  for  fifty  years,  there  is  less  pro- 
nounced and  widespread  sentiment  against  the 
saloon  than  ever  ? Is  the  real  difficulty  with  the 
public  sentiment  ? ^Vhen,  after  an  agitation  which 
for  intensity,  duration,  and  universality  knows  no 
parallel  in  the  history  of  any  other  similar  reform ; 
when  the  pen,  mightier  than  the  sword,  is  on  every 
hand  enlisted  against  the  Philistine  of  strong  drink, 
and  every  school  and  church-bell  peals  out  its  death 
knell ; when  from  the  innumerable  undisturbed 
public  pursuits  the  liquor  business  alone  is  singled 
out  and  humiliated  with  every  kind  and  manner 
of  legal  restraint,  of  business  exclusion,  and  of 
social  ostracism,  and  aside  from  the  bald  fact  that 
it  yields  revenue,  finds  not  a single  conspicuous 
public  defender ; when  in  spite  of  the  poor  enforce- 
ment and  general  handicap  hitherto  of  prohibitory 
laws ; at  the  risk  of  boycott  in  business,  at  the  risk 
of  personal  danger,  and  in  the  face  of  the  damn- 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


309 


ing  temptation  of  the  “revenue”  and  “trade”  ar- 
guments urged  for  the  liquor  business, — vrhen  in 
the  face  of  these  things  individuals  and  communi- 
ties have  again  and  again  voted  to  sustain  the  no- 
license policy,  and  not  a State  that  has  not  its 
considerable  area  under  prohibition — in  some  in- 
stances from  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  of  its  en- 
tire area — shall  it  be  seriously  said,  and  with  re- 
flection, that  the  reason  why  the  long  struggle 
against  the  open.  State-sanctioned  traffic  in  liquor 
is  not  already  clearly  within  sight  of  its  goal,  is 
because  not  enough  sentiment  has  yet  been  created 
on  this  question  ? How  much  sentiment  does  it 
require  in  a democracy  to  make  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple effective  in  law  ? 

Or  to  come  closer  to  the  point  still.  Is  it  true 
in  those  States,  specifically,  which  have  enacted  a 
prohibitory  law  by  the  deliberate  choice  of  their 
voting  citizens,  that  public  sentiment  in  those 
States  does  not  sustain  the  enforcement  of  that 
law  ? What  did  the  people  pass  the  law  for  ? The 
people  of  Iowa,  for  instance,  on  June  27,  1882, 
voted  for  constitutional  prohibition  by  a majority 
of  29,759 — 155,436  voting  for,  and  125,677 


310  A Centukt  of  Drikk  Eefoem. 

against.  Ordinarily  such  majority  in  such  vote 
would  he  quite  sufficient  to  inaugnarate  and  carry 
out  a change  in  governmental  policy.  Yet  there 
are  not  wanting  those  who  loudly  asserted  that 
I)rohihition  in  Iowa  was  a failure  from  the  begin- 
ning; and  that  it  ceased  we  know.  Was  not  pro- 
hibition, as  a matter  of  record,  amply  justified  by 
its  fruits,  taking  the  State  over  ? If  prohibition 
really  was  a failure,  wherein  was  it  that  it  failed  ? 

Again,  the  people  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island, 
on  April  7,  1886,  voted  for  constitutional  prohibi- 
tion by  a more  than  three-fiiths  majority  vote, — 
15,113  voting  for,  and  9,230  against.  Even  if  one 
were  inclined  to  question  the  sufficiency  of  the 
Iowa  majority,  surely  here  we  have  a majority — 
nearly  two  to  one — large  enough  thoroughly  to 
carry  out  any  policy.  Yet  the  law  was  not  en- 
forced, and  after  three  years,  the  people  in  dis- 
gust and  despair  repealed  prohibition  by  a vote  of 
nearly  three  to  one.  The  people  will  not  sustain 
prohibition,  was  said.  If  prohibition  in  Rhode 
Island  was  a failure,  why  was  it  a failure  ? Wust 
public  sentiment  be  stronger — poll  more  votes  yet  ? 
In  what  way  must  it  be  stronger  ? 


Ground  of  Conflict. 


311 


Once  more,  the  people  of  the  State  of  Maine, 
at  the  fall  State  election  in  September,  1884,  voted 
for  constitutional  prohibition  by  a majority  of 
three  to  one — 70,783  voting  for,  and  23,811 
against.  There  can  be  no  disputing  that  such  a 
vote  shows  a very  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  pro- 
hibition. And  when  we  reflect  that  this  vote  was 
that  of  the  male  population  only ; that  had  woman, 
who  also  has  convictions  on  this  subject,  been  per- 
mitted to  express  these  convictions  in  votes,  and 
those  under  twenty-one  just  fresh  from  school — 
with  these  added  considerations,  we  can  not  but 
say  that  the  backing  of  prohibition  in  Maine,  in 
the  popular  electorate  and  in  the  moral  sentiment 
of  the  entire  people,  is — or  was — literally  over- 
whelming. Yet  there  are  those  who  have  faith  to 
believe  that  prohibition  is  not  succeeding  in  Maine, 
and  never  has  succeeded.  Public  sentiment  does 
not  sustain  prohibitory  laws,  is  proclaimed  abroad. 
You  can  get  liquor  anywhere,  some  say.  Others 
enter  an  emphatic  denial,  and  affirm  that  prohi- 
bition is  a success.  So  how  shall  we  tell  ? We 
would  naturally  expect  it  to  be  a complete  suc- 
cess, with  such  a vote  back  of  it.  And  if  it  is,  the 


312  A Century  of  Drink  Eeform. 

matter  becomes  very  simple ; let  every  State  in  the 
Union  speedily  adopt  prohibition.  But  if  it  is 
not  a complete  success ; if  liquor  is  sold  there  gen- 
erally and  in  considerable  quantities,  contrary  to 
law,  we  want  to  know  why  liquor  is  sold  there. 
There  is  some  obscure  difficulty  here,  and  there  is 
too  much  at  stRke  to  remain  indifferent  in  this 
matter,  or  to  be  satisfied  with  generalities. 

We  propose  to  probe  deeply  and  unflinchingly 
until  we  have  located  the  precise  seat  of  the  trouble. 
We  want  to  make  it  very  plain  that  the  difficulty 
lies  not  with  the  sentiment  of  the  people,  but  some- 
where else;  and  we  want  to  know  by  what  right 
any  man  who  enjoys  the  blessings  of  free  popular 
government,  and  professes  to  believe  in  democratic 
institutions  where  the  people  themselves,  by  ma- 
jorities, exercise  the  right  of  rule, — ^may  dare  even 
to  intimate  that  a clear  majority  of  two  to  one,  or 
of  three  to  one,  on  any  measure  of  State  is  not  yet 
large  enough  to  warrant  its  enactment,  or  to  insure 
its  reasonable  enforcement. 


D.  ADJUDICATION. 

313 


CHAPTEE  X. 


The  Alleged  Failuees  ob’  PEOHiBiTioiir. 

Pkohibitioh  has  not  been  a failure;  neither 
has  it  been  an  unqualified  success.  It  has  worked 
well  enough  to  convince  men  that  it  is  not  only 
right,  but  practicable ; that  it  is  the  only  sufficient 
and  final  remedy  for  the  drink  evil.  To  furnish 
proof  of  this  is  but  to  give  what  everybody  knows, 
or  has  no  excuse  for  not  knowing.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  prohibition  policy  has  hobbled  plainly 
and  long  enough  at  once  to  indicate  the  presence  of 
a difficulty,  and  to  enable  us  to  locate  it.  That 
this  difficulty  lies  elsewhere  than  in  a lack  of  pub- 
lic sentiment  among  the  people  on  this  question, 
began  to  grow  apparent  at  the  close  of  the  last 
chapter. 

The  hindrance  to  a complete  success  of  prohi- 
bition hitherto  has  been  twofold.  It  has  to  do 
with  the  area,  on  the  one  hand,  to  which  prohibi- 
tion has  been  applied;  and  to  the  method  on  the 
S15 


316  A Centuky  of  Deuvk  Kefoem. 

other  hand,  by  which  it  has  been  applied.  These 
we  will  discuss  in  turn. 

First — Area. 

A no-license  policy  is  not  likely  to  be  com- 
pletely or  permanently  successful  in  any  town 
when  all  the  surrounding  towns  sell  liquor  freely. 
Such  a law,  from  start  to  finish,  suffers  a heavy 
handicap.  It  is  hard  to  get  such  law  passed,  in 
the  first  place.  Hot  that  a sufficient  number  of 
citizens  may  not  believe  in  it,  or  would  not  like 
to  see  liquor  banished  from  their  midst,  but  be- 
cause they  see  in  advance  how  the  law  will  be  ham- 
pered in  its  operation.  They  are  aware  how  easy 
it  will  be  to  ship  in  liquor,  or  bring  it  by  wagon 
at  night  from  the  next  toAvn ; and  they  do  not  like 
the  thought  of  the  general  law-evading  and  law- 
breaking  that  is  almost  sure  to  follow.  They  are 
aware,  too,  that  to  antagonize  the  saloon  right  in 
their  midst,  where  a man  has  his  home  and  his 
business,  is  no  holiday  matter.  A United  States 
marshal  can  go  to  a town  and  close  up,  and  spare 
not;  but  for  a home  citizen  to  try  to  do  this  is 
neither  pleasant  nor  wholly  safe  always.  Good 
citizens  prefer  generally  to  live  in  peace,  even  to 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  317 


suffering  annoyance  and  wrong.  Then,  too,  the 
I citizen  is  influenced  by  trade  and  tax  considera- 
f tions.  It  is  predicted  that  if  the  saloons  are  closed 
f in  this  town  trade  will  go  to  adjoining  towns ; and 
I this  prospect  again  is  not  pleasing.  And  getting 
no  revenue,  local  taxes  will  be  much  higher,  it  is 
added.  These  considerations,  any  or  all,  will  in- 
fluence a considerable  number  to  cast  their  ballot 
against  no-license,  while  really  believing  in  it,  and 
with  no  love  for  the  liquor  business.  This  fact 
must  he  borne  in  mind  when  we  consider  the  ex- 
tent of  local  option,  or  no-license,  territory 
throughout  the  country, — that  large  as  that  area 
is — in  a few  States  all  hut  entire — the  aggregate 
of  local  votes,  to  say  nothing  of  woman’s  complete 
exclusion,  does  not  in  fact  represent  the  full 
strength  of  the  sentiment  against  the  liquor  trade. 
/ The  local  option  method  of  dealing  with  the 
I drink  evil  works  against  heavy  odds.  ISTo  com- 
I munity  should  be  expected  to  settle  single-handed 
I a question  that  has  such  larger  than  local  bear- 
! ings.  As  well  try  to  protect  a community  against 
} pillage  and  robbery  when  robbers’  dens  infest  the 
woods  on  all  sides  just  across  the  town  line,  as  to 


318  A Century  of  Drink  Keform. 

keep  liquor  out  of  a town  when  all  around  they  are 
allowed  to  sell  it.  It  might  be  done  possibly,  but 
the  citizen  would  begin  to  question  whether  it  was 
worth  the  cost.  He  would  probably  conclude  to 
bar  the  door  and  take  his  chances. 

What  we  have  said  here  of  local  option  applies 
i also  in  a measure  to  State  prohibition,  which  is 
but  a kind  of  local  option  on  a larger  scale.  Pro- 
hibition probably  never  has  had  a fairer  trial  than 
in  Iowa  under  Governor  WiUiam  Larrabee,  from 
1885  to  1889.  The  State  administration  made  an 
earnest  effort  to  enforce  the  law,  yet  in  the  border 
counties  and  in  the  larger  interior  cities  it  was 
more  or  less  openly  violated.  All  the  adjoining 
States  made  lawful,  and  were  deriving  revenue 
from,  that  which  Iowa  was  trying  to  suppress. 
Hot  only  did  the  railway  communications  and  the 
imaginary  State  border  lines  offer  every  facility 
^ for  smuggling  in  the  contraband  article,  but  when 
the  Chicago  and  Horthwestern  Railway,  for  in- 
stance, refused  to  carry  open  consignments  of 
liquor  into  the  State,  it  was  sued,  and — what  is 
; worse, — ^beaten.  The  United  States  Supreme 

\ Court,  which  handed  do’wn  the  final  ruling,  de- 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  319 


dared  that  the  act.  of  carrying  merchandise  from 
one  State  into  another  did  not  come  within  the 
province  of  State  law,  hut  belonged  to  Federal  au- 

Ithority  alone,  in  its  control  of  interstate  com- 
merce; and  that  a railroad,  as  a common  carrier, 
has  no  right  to  discriminate  against  any  com- 
modity which  constitutes  a proper  article  of  com- 
I merce.  This  decision,  rendered  in  1888,  was  fol- 
lowed by  another  decision,  in  1890,  known  as  the 
I “original  package”  decision,  in  which  the  Supreme 
I Court  held  that  liquor  thus  shipped  into  prohibi- 
/ tion  territory  could  not  be  seized  by  the  local  au- 
' thorities  as  long  as  it  remained  in  the  original 
package,  as  shipped;  and  that  in  such  packages  it 
might  be  sold.  The  widespread  protest  which  this 
decision  called  forth,  led  Congress  to  enact  some 
remedial,  though  insufficient,  legislation.  The 
man  who  now  sells  liquor  in  prohibition  territory 

/does  so  at  his  own  risk;  but  the  interstate  law  still 
■i 

j protects  the  shipment  of  liquor  until  actually  in 
/ the  hands  of  the  consignee.  In  other  words,  the 
' thief  may  come  within  the  town  limits — under 
Federal  protection;  let  the  constable  have  a care 
that  he  does  n’t  steal ! 


320  A Centuey  of  DEmK  Refoem. 

No;  the  same  power  that  controls  interstate 
commerce  must  control  the  liquor  traffic.  One 
would  scarcely  expect  that  the  prohibition  of  the 
sale  of  any  article  within  its  own  limits,  by  a State 
or  town,  can  be  made  thoroughly  effectual  except 
the  importation,  the  actual  bringing  in  of  that  ar- 
ticle, also,  can  be  made  punishable.  You  say  Con- 
gress should  at  once  enact  a law  prohibiting  such 
importation.  This  Congress  certainly  should  do. 
A bill  to  this  effect  was  introduced  in  the  Tifty- 
seventh  Congress,  but  the  liquor  power  showed  its 
hand  at  the  seat  of  legislation,  and  the  bill  was 
killed.  A similar  measure,  the  Hepburn-Dolliver 
bill,  was  brought  before  the  Fifty-eighth  CongTess, 
just  adjourned.  This  measure  had  a strong  in- 
dorsement of  public  sentiment,  and  committee 
hearings  were  held;  but  coming  just  on  the  eve 
of  a national  political  canvass,  nothing  more  was 
heard  of  it. 

When  our  Government  declares  that  the 
liquor  question  belongs  to  the  States  for  such 
settlement  as  they  may  severally  choose,  it  should 
respect  them  in  their  full  right  of  such  settlement. 
"When  a stronger  lets  a weaker  wage  combat  with 


Alleged  Failukes  of  Pkohibitiojst.  321 


the  destroyer  single-handed,  he  should  at  least  give 
the  weaker  a fair  field.  Such  law,  making  the 
carrying  of  liquor  into  prohibition  territory  pun- 
ishable, would  greatly  help  the  individual  States 
in  their  uneven  contest.  It  would  have  made  it 
impossible  for  the  brewers  of  Dubuque  or  Daven- 
port, for  instance,  under  the  protection  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  to  ship  their  liquor  across  the 
river  into  Illinois  (this  being  interstate  com- 
merce), and  immediately  ship  it  back  (this  being 
interstate  commerce  again)  into  any  part  of  the 
State  whence  it  came. 

However,  such  a law,  considerably  though  it 
would  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  State,  is  not  yet 
sufficient.  The  executive  machinery  of  Federal 
authority  is  alone  adequate  properly  to  enforce  a 
general  prohibitory  law.  Do  not  the  Federal 
liquor  permits  taken  out  everywhere  in  prohibi- 
tion territory  bear  witness  to  this  fact  ? What  do 
they  mean  if  not  this : the  liquor-seller  is  willing 
to  take  his  chances  with  the  prohibitory  law  of  the 
State  as  enforced  in  his  locality,  but  he  will  take 
no  such  chances  with  the  Federal  Government? 
He  will  sell — or  try  to  sell — without  a State  li- 


21 


322  A Centuky  of  Dkiek  Eefoem. 

cense,  but  he  will  not  dare  to  sell  without  a Fed- 
eral permit.  If  the  Government  should  experience 
I a change  of  heart,  therefore,  and  use  the  same  vig- 
I orous  means  entirely  to  suppress  liquor-selling 
I which  it  now  employs  to  collect  revenue  from  it, 
I we  should  probably  hear  of  fewer  repeals  of  prohi- 
bition on  the  ground  that  it  had  failed  to  prohibit. 

If  a State  is  able  to  maintain  its  policy  of  pro- 
hibition against  such  odds,  with  every  neighboring 
State,  may  be,  against  her;  with  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment against  her;  with  the  wealth  and  the 
power  of  the  liquor  interests  throughout  the  land 
incessantly  at  work  to  break  down  the  law, — ship- 

Iping  in  liquor  free,  if  necessary,  as  was  openly 
charged  in  Iowa,  to  those  who  will  agree  to  handle 
it,  and  even  giving  it  away  to  those  who  will  drink, 
— to  bring  the  law  into  discredit,  and  to  be  able  to 
say  before  the  world  that  prohibition  does  n’t  pro- 
hibit, and  thus  bring  about  its  repeal: — if  a law, 
under  such  conditions,  is  not  severely  and  even 
fatally  crippled,  but  can  show  much  good,  what 
may  we  not  expect  of  it  under  more  favorable  con- 
ditions ! 

But  aside  from' the  question  of  practicability 


Alleged  Failukes  of  Pkohibition.  323 


I there  remains  the  question  of  right.  If  liquor-sell- 
i ing  is  ruinous  and  wrong  in  Kansas,  is  it  benefi- 
f.  cent  and  right  in  Nebraska  or  Illinois?  Are  the 
! effects  of  strong  drink  different  on  the  opposite 
sides  of  an  imaginary  geographical  line  ? Does 
jf  liquor  start  men  on  the  road  to  prosperity  and 
I heaven  in  one  State,  and  send  them  to  the  peniten- 
I tiary  and  the  madhouse  in  the  other  ? If  not, — if 
i liquor  works  everywhere  essentially  the  same 
works,  and  if  a town  has  an  unquestioned  right 
completely  to  suppress  the  liquor  business  in  its 
midst,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  evil,  have  the  people 
i of  the  next  town  an  equally  unquestioned  right  to 
I permit  this  same  business  in  their  midst,  and  to 
I throw  around  it  the  protection  of  law  ? The  right 
to  suppress  has  been  amply  confirmed,  and  is  now 
unquestioned ; but  how  about  the  right  to  permit  ? 
You  say  that  is  a matter  for  each  community  to 

(decide.  No ; no.  If  it  were  a matter  of  building 
a bridge,  or  paving  a street,  or  operating  a light 
and  power  plant,  or  any  other  business  that  has  a 
purely  local  and  business  character,  it  would  rest 
5 properly  with  the  citizens  of  the  community  to  de- 
cide. But  not  so  with  far-reaching  questions  of 


324  A Century  of  Drjnk  Kefoem. 

f morals.  !Mo  individual  or  community  lias  any 
I option,  for  instance,  on  tlie  Decalogue.  If  one 
I should  ask  you.  Is  it  right  to  steal  (provided  you 
I are  not  caught)  ? you  would  scarcely  answer — pre- 
f tending  that  you  were  liberal  and  practical.  This 
depends  upon  the  community  you  are  in.  Or  if 
you  saw  a man  throwing  a carcass  into  the  city’s 
water  supply,  would  it  change  the  character  of  the 
act  to  be  told  that  the  people  did  not  relish  plain 
.j  water,  and  that  the  doctors  and  undertakers  had 
I agreed  that  he  might  do  this  thing  ? Or  if  in  a 
I certain  place  you  saw  an  excited  multitude  sear- 
ing a naked  body  with  a hot  iron  and  strangling  its 
life  with  a rope,  w'ould  you,  on  seeing  that  the  vic- 
tim had  swarthy  features,  and  that  this  occurrence 
Avas  taking  place- south  of  a certain  degree  of  lati- 
tude, withhold  your  judgment  and  acknowledge 
that  all  such  acts  must  be  judged  according  to  the 
sentiment  prevailing  in  each  separate  community  ? 
Ho;  if  the  local  authorities  were  indifferent,  or 
sanctioned  it,  you  would  appeal  to  the  State  to 
overrule  local  sentiment;  such  things  must  not  be 
knovm  Avithin  a State.  If  the  State  were  indif- 
ferent, you  would  appeal  to  the  nation  to  overrule 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  325 


the  sentiment  of  the  State;  such  things  must  not 
receive  sanction  within  a nation.  And  if  the  na- 
tion refused  to  hear,  you  would  raise  your  voice  in 
the  ears  of  the  people  in  appeal  to  a higher  law 
than  statute  or  constitution — as  men  before  you 
have  done, — and  declare  that  this  thing  is  an  in- 
iquity before  God,  and  must  cease ; compelling  the 
world  to  hear. 

If  therefore  theft  and  murder  are  wrong,  not 
as  localities  may  decide,  but  anywhere — every- 
where, what  shall  we  say  of  a public  traffic  in  an 
article  that  robs  men,  first  of  their  purse — trash; 
then  steals  away  their  brains,  filches  from  them 
their  good  name,  and  wrests  from  them  their  hope 
of  heaven  ? Is  the  right  or  wrong  of  this  a mere 
matter  of  locality?  Shall  we  say  that  it  is  crime 
for  a man,  anywhere  within  the  broad  domain  of 
humanity,  to  defile  the  water  supply  of  a people, 
which  produces  fever  and  may  result  in  death,  and 
say  of  a man  who  supplies  people  with  a drink 
that  poisons  the  fountains  of  virtue,  that  turns  bit- 
ter the  milk  of  human  kindness,  and  lays  men  also 
in  their  graves  with  a worse  than  physical  death ; 
shall  we  say  that  it  is  all  right  for  a man  to  do  this 


326  A Centttey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

provided  the  conunimity  said  he  might  (for 
money),  and  the  State  said  it  didn’t  care  what 
the  towns  did  ? 

Or  perhaps  the  fact  that  a man  is  willing  to 
take  his  chances  with  liquor  alters  the  case, — that 
he  knows  about  it  and  agrees  to  it.  Perhaps  it  is 
all  right  for  a man  to  put  the  bottle  to  his  neigh- 
bor’s lips,  if  the  latter  wants  it  and  finds  it  agi’ee- 
ahle, — is  it  ? Perhaps  the  circumstance  that  a man 
is  willing — or  a woman — makes  it  all  right  for 
another  to  debauch  him — or  her ; does  it  ? 

The  attitude  of  a large  portion  of  the  Amer- 
ican people — the  position  of  the  Government  it- 
self— on  the  liquor  question  is  precisely  the  atti- 
tude to  which  Stephen  A.  Douglas  wished  to  com- 
mit this  nation  on  the  question  of  Xegro  slavery, 
when  he  brought  forward  his  doctrine  of  squatter 
sovereignty,  which  cost  his  party,  and  almost  the 
nation,  its  life.  Let  every  community  decide  for 
itself ; he  did  not  care  “whether  it  was  voted  up  or 
voted  doAvn  in  the  Territories.”  To  this  Lincoln 
replied : “Any  man  can  say  that  who  does  not  see 
I anything  wrong  in  slavery,  but  no  man  can  logic- 
j ally  say  that  who  does  see  a wrong  in  it ; because 


Alleged  Failukes  of  Pkohibitioit.  327 

/ no  man  can  logically  say  lie  does  n’t  care  wlietlier 
I a wrong  is  voted  up  or  voted  down.  He  may  say 
I he  does  n’t  care  whether  an  indifferent  thing  is 
^ voted  up  or  voted  down,  but  he  must  logically  have 
a choice  between  a right  thing  and  a wrong  thing. 
He  contends  that  whatever  community  wants 
^ slaves  has  a right  to  have  them.  So  they  have,  if 
f it  is  not  wrong.  But  if  it  is  wrong,  he  can  not  say 
people  have  a right  to  do  wrong.” 

With  respect  to  the  morals  of  the  liquor  traffic 
our  several  governmental  bodies  in  America  prac- 
tice a policy  of  evasion,  from  first  to  last.  The 
Federal  Government  says.  Let  each  State  decide 
as  it  sees  fit ; this  question  belongs  to  the  police 
I power  of  the  States.  The  State,  in  turn,  when 
I questioned,  replies.  Let  each  community  decide 
I for  itself ; our  population  is  so  diverse.  Towns  are 
' granted,  consequently,  the  privilege  of  “local  op- 
tion.” Going,  again,  to  the  town  or  city,  we  ask, 
AVhat  do  you  purpose  to  do  with  this  question  of 
' allowing  men  to  engage  in  the  public  drink  traffic 
in  your  midst  ? We  get  essentially  the  same  reply. 
Let  the  different  wards  decide  what  they  want ; or. 
It  shall  rest  with  the  property  owners  on  both  sides 


328  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Refoem. 

of  the  street  in  the  block  where  the  drink  shop  is 
to  be  opened. 

But  why  stop  at  this  point  ? ISTo,  we  must  not 
stop  after  getting  so  far.  "WTaat  right  has  the  resi- 
dent on  one  side  of  a street  to  express  an  opinion 
to  the  resident  on  the  opposite  side  as  to  what  he 
should,  or  should  not,  have  or  do  on  that  other  side 
— may  not  the  sentiment  on  this  question  be  differ- 
ent on  the  two  sides  ? Why  not  leave  the  question 
with  those  who  live  on  the  same  side  of  the  street, 
in  the  same  block  ? This  would  come  nearer  the 
ideal  of  local  autonomy.  A broad  street  forms  a 
more  real  geographical  division  between  people, 
for  instance,  than  an  imaginary  line  running  be- 
tween States  or  counties  or  tovms.  We  have  in 
fact  known  a town  line  to  rrm  through  the  middle 
of  a building,  part  in  one  township,  part  in  an- 
other. 

But  we  must  go  a step  farther.  What  justice 
or  practical  wisdom  is  there  in  lumping  all  the 
families  in  a long  row  of  houses,  several  families 
perhaps  in  one  house,  strangers  to  one  another, 
with  different  tastes,  habits,  views, — what  justice 
to  force  a uniform  policy  upon  all  of  these  ? Xo 


Alleged  Failtjkes  oe  Pkohibition.  329 


justice,  when  you  come  to  think  of  it.  Why  not 
then  at  once  avow  to  rest  the  question  where  this 
principle  logically  leads  us,  where  sentiment  is 
most  homogeneous,  where  son  will  swear  by  his 
father,  and  where  wife  and  husband,  under  stress 
of  outward  interference  at  least,  will  be  of  one 
mind — namely,  the  family?  ISTo  special  sanctity 
attaches  to  a State  or  town  line,  city  ward,  or  brick 
block;  but  civilized  peoples  have  ever  accorded  a 
peculiar  sacredness  to  the  family  as  an  institution, 
and  have  ever  sought  to  keep  its  autonomy  intact 
and  inviolate. 

But  there  is  yet  no  peace.  This  principle  still 
lacks  its  final  application.  “He  that  loveth  father 
or  mother  more  than  Me  is  not  worthy  of  Me,” 
indicates  an  obedience  and  a unity  higher  than 
that  of  the  family.  Once  assert  the  principle  of 
“local  option”  in  a matter  of  right  and  wrong, 
and  that  principle  will  know  no  peace  until  it  rests 
localized  in  the  individual  conscience.  Stop  short 
of  that — anywhere,  and  you  deny  the  very  princi- 
ple which  you  have  affirmed.  Who  is  the  slayer 
of  kings  and  rnlers — anarchist,  we  call  him — ^bnt 
he  who  has  followed  this  principle  to  its  logical 


330  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Eefoem. 


conclusion,  and  has  had  the  courage  to  carry  out 
I his  convictions  in  action  ? All  human  government 
^ is  coercion,  he  asserts,  and  -wrong.  Xo  man  can 
f decide  for  another  what  is  right.  Each  man’s  con- 
I science  is  the  tribunal  to  whose  decrees  he  must 
give  allegiance.  And  for  his  logic  we  condemn 

I 

this  man ; for  his  courage  we  execute  him. 

Still  he  is  wrong.  His  premises  are  false. 
> While  the  conscience  must  be  obeyed,  and  while 
igovernment  may  not  interfere  with  a man’s  purely 
/personal  beliefs  and  habits,  yet  the  public  acts  of  a 

(man  are  a matter  of  concern  to  the  entire  people, 
and  if  these  become  subversive  of  public  peace 
and  good  order,  the  people  in  their  ruling  capacity 
j may  restrain  him  from  doing  evil.  Government 
thus  properly  becomes,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  tells 
I us,  a terror  only  to  evil  doers.  It  becomes  an  in- 
I strument,  not  of  oppression,  but  of  liberty.  The 
author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  an 
absolutely  correct  conception  of  the  fimction  of 
government  when  he  wrote : ^“To  secure  these 
rights” — life,  liberty,  the  pursuit  of  happiness, 
* etc. — ‘‘governments  are  instituted  among  men,  de- 
riving their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 


Alleged  Failures  of  Pkohibitiost.  331 


governed.”  To  this  end  the  people,  in  the  inter- 
ests of  peace  and  order  and  public  welfare,  over- 
rule not  only  the  “option”  of  individuals,  but  the 
“local  option”  of  bands,  sects,  societies,  of  towns, 
cities,  and  States  even.  The  people  of  Utah,  for 
instance,  believe  religiously  in  Mormonism,  and 
are  said  in  their  heart  to  cherish  polygamy ; Colo- 
rado believes  in  free  silver,  and  Texas  in  free 
trade ; Louisiana  late  in  the  day  operated  a lottery, 
and  South  Carolina  a little  earlier  practiced  nulli- 
fication. Did  we — or  do  we — pay  deference  to 
the  principle  of  autonomy  and  self-government,  or 
to  the  consideration  that  a uniform  policy  would 
be  either  not  right  or  not  expedient  ? ISTo — yes,  to 
the  autonomy  and  sovereignty  of  the  people  as  a 
nation^  that  largest  and  final  unit  of  action  in  all 
matters  pertaining  to  the  common  weal.  To  one 
or  the  other  of  these  tribunals  all  questions  of 
morals  must  be  ultimately  referred : to  the  indi- 
vidual conscience — the  personal  unit,  for  all 
purely  personal  matters ; to  the  national  conscience 
— the  social  unit,  for  all  questions  of  far-reaching 
public  concern. 

It  is  just  as  true  of  the  public  commerce  in 


332  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 


strong  drink  as  it  was,  or  is,  of  any  of  these  other 
l^nestions — as  it  was  of  Negro  slavery:  this  nation, 
.|on  grounds  either  of  expediency  or  of  right,  can 
^not  remain  permanently  half  under  prohibition, 
I and  half  under  license  (permission).  It  Avill  be 
either  all  the  one  or  all  the  other.  Either,  event- 
ually, every  prohibitory  statute  must  be  repealed, 
or  else  every  legalized  drink  shop  must  go.  There 
is  no  other  alternative. 

Second — Method. 

(The  other  great  hindrance  to  the  complete  suc- 
cess of  prohibition  hitherto  lies  in  the  fact  that 
tlie  men  who  enacted  prohibition  forgot  that  no 
law  will  enforce  itself;  that  whether  or  not  a law 
I shall  prove  effective  will  depend  almost  entirely 
I upon  the  machinery  and  men  that  are  back  of  it 
for  its  enforcement.  Fairly  to  test  any  law,  the 
same  people  who  enacted  it  must,  in  the  first  place, 
put  a man  behind  it  who  is  sworn  and  determined 
to  enforce  it;  and  in  the  second  place,  they  must 
stand  back  of  him  through  the  storm  and  stress 
of  opposition — if  there  be  any — and  uphold  him 
in  such  enforcement,  maintaining  him  in  office 
until  the  policy  is  permanently  established,  or  has 


Alleged  Failukes  of  Pkohibition.  333 


at  least  been  thoroughly  tested.  Then  one  man 
can  put  a thousand  to  flight. 

We  will  inquire  how  far  these  conditions  have 
been  present  in  the  history  of  prohibitory  legisla- 
tion. We  will  take  for  this  purpose  the  prohibi- 
tion policy  at  its  best  so  far,  namely,  where  it  has 
been  made  a part  of  the  constitution  of  a State. 

It  came  about  in  this  way:  The  temperance 
forces  of  the  State,  after  a thorough  agitation  and 
a vigorous  campaigTi,  have  elected  a legislature 
that  is  pledged  to  submit  the  question  of  a pro- 
hibitory constitutional  amendment  to  the  people. 
An  amendment  is  drafted,  and  the  time  is  fij^ed  for 
the  popular  vote.  For  this  purpose  a special  elec- 
I tion  may  be  ordered,  as  in  Iowa  (June  27,  1882)  ; 
I or  the  vote  may  be  taken  at  the  general  State  or 
i Presidential  election,  as  in  Kansas  (Kovember  2, 

■ 1880),  Maine  (September  8,  1884),  Rhode  Island 

■ (April  7,  1886),  Korth  Dakota  and  South  Dakota 
(October  1,  1889).  Kow  where  the  election  was 
held  by  itself,  as  in  Iowa,  the  matter  was  com- 
paratively simple.  Ko  national  or  other  State 
issue  was  present  to  obscure  the  horizon.  There 
were  no  party  interests  to  serve,  and  all  party  feel- 


334  A Centuey  of  Deink;  Eefoem. 


I ing  was  studiously  repressed.  Xou-partisan  was 
/ the  magical  word  by  which  prejudice  was  disarmed 
/ and  all  the  temperance  sentiment  brought  together. 
I The  canvass  was  made  solely  on  the  merits  of  the 
* issue.  The  temperance  people  for  the  most  part 
voted  for  the  amendment ; all  others,  solidly 
against  it.  The  amendment  carries.  Prohibition, 
thus  enacted  by  the  people  withont  reference  to 
/ party,  now  passes  out  of  their  hands  into  party 
/ hands — the  party  in  power — for  suitable  legisla- 
tion and  its  enforcement. 

Or,  to  take  the  instance  where  the  prohibitory 
amendment  is  voted  on  at  the  regular  general  elec- 
tion. Here  again,  the  parties  in  the  field  do  not 
take  issue,  probably,  on  this  question,  for  the  chief 
claim  for  this  constitutional  method  is  that  it  is 
strictly  non-partisan.  It  does  not  make  the  ques- 
tion a football  of  party  politics.  The  two  things 
therefore  are  kept  quite  separate.  The  chief  con- 
cern of  the  voter  is  not  so  much  which  party  will 
win,  as  wiU  the  amendment  carry.  The  temper- 
ance forces,  irrespective  of  party,  are  working 
hard  that  it  shall  carry ; the  liquor  forces  from  all 
j parties  work  equally  hard  on  the  other  side.  The 


Alleged  Failukes  of  Pkohibition.  335 


I ballots  show  a majority  for  the  amendment.  Pro- 
I hibition  has  carried  the  day!  It  now  passes  into 
5 the  hands  of  the  party  in  power  for  its  execution. 

But  prohibition  has  not  yet  as  a matter  of  fact 
wholly  carried  the  day.  It  remains  yet  to  be  car- 
I ried  out  This  rests  now  with  the  party  in  power. 
I Did  the  temperance  voters  who  stood  together  on 
I the  amendment  think  of  this  and  stand  together 
f also  to  elect  a party  that  was  to  make  the  law  ef- 
fective ? ISTo,  they  did  not.  They  voted  ‘‘Yes”  on 

• 

the  amendment,  unitedly,  because  they  believed  in 
the  suppression  of  the  liquor  business ; then  they 
broke  ranks  and  voted  for  the  several  parties  and 
/ party  candidates  according  to  their  convictions 
/ upon  the  tariff,  or  civil  service,  or  bimetallism, 
I and  like  questions  of  national  policy.  The  liquor 
element  did  the  same,  after  voting  “Yo”  on  the 
amendment.  The  prohibition  policy,  established 
by  the  people  without  reference  to  party,  thus 
passes  into  party  hands  for  its  life  or  death — that 
is,  for  its  enforcement.  Wlio  is  this  party  in 
I power — what  bond  has  it  for  the  proper  fulfillment 
I of  its  duty  ? 

■ First  of  all  is  to  be  noted  the  fact  that  the 


336  A Centuky  of  Deink  Refoem. 

party  in  power  owed  its  success  at  the  polls  to 
the  combined  votes  of  both  those  who  have  ardently 
championed,  and  those  who  have  as  bitterly  op- 
posed, the  very  law  which  it  will  be  the  party’s 
chief  task  to  carry  into  execution.  The  party  is 
one  or  the  other  of  the  two  parties  that  have  held 
the  reins  of  office  in  onr  land  for  many  years.  The 
one  goes  back  to  Thomas  Jefferson  as  its  founder; 
and  though  it  has  passed  through  changes  of  time 
and  a change  of  name,  it  maintains  that  the  suc- 
cession is  unbroken.  The  other  party  came  into 
being,  like  a new  continent,  with  the  seismic  dis- 
'turbances  of  later  abolition  days,  when  the  pent-up 
feelings  of  the  people  found  vent  and  submerged 
slavery  in  a sea  of  human  blood.  With  the  issues 
settled  that  brought  these  parties  into  being,  they 
have  since  then  taken  up  various  new  issues  from 
\time  to  time.  But  they  have  never  taken  up  the 
\iquor  question,  neither  of  them.  Locally  they 
have  sometimes  given  some  expression  upon  it,  for 
or  against ; but  never  nationally,  except  expressly 
to  repudiate  it.  They  have  other  issues.  The 
I question  what  to  do  with  the  public  traffic  in  alco- 
Iholic  liquors,  does  not  form  the  dividing  line  bo- 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  337 


I 

) 

I 


tween  them.  One’s  convictions  on  this  question, 
either  way,  do  not  form  the  basis  and  bond  of  party 
union,  nor  are  they  called  for  as  a test  of  party 
fealty.  These  parties  are  compactly  and  com- 
pletely organized,  and  from  national  to  township 
elections  full  separate  party  candidates  are  named, 
and  party  lines  are  closely  drawn.  The  national 
party  organization,  in  each  case,  sets  the  pace,  and 
from  President  to  pathmaster  the  party  candidate 
marches  in  lock-step.  The  party  shibboleth  may 
pe  this,  or  now  that ; but  it  has  nothing  to  do  with 
me  public  traffic  in  strong  drink. 

Thus  when  Maine,  in  the  heated  political  can- 
vass of  1884,  voted  on  the  question  of  putting 
prohibition  into  her  constitution  at  her  September 
State  election,  Mr.  Blaine,  though  personally  con- 
vinced of  the  benefits  of  prohibition,  and  on  record 
to  that  effect,  refused  to  vote  either  way  on  the 
amendment,  though  he  had  been  urged  to  lend  his 
infiuence  in  its  favor.  In  explanation  of  his  posi- 
tion, Mr.  Blaine  said  in  an  address  that  same  night 
at  Augusta:  “The  issue  of  a temperance  amend- 
ment to  the  constitution  has  been  very  properly 
and  very  rigidly  separated  from  the  political  con- 
22 


338  A Centuky  of  Deine;  Kefoem. 

test  of  tlie  State  to-daj,  Many  Democrats  voted 
for  it,  and  some  Republicans  voted  against  it.  The 
Republican  party,  by  the  desire  of  many  leading 
temperance  men,  took  no  action  as  a party  on  the 
amendment.  For  myself,  I decided  not  to  vote  at 
all  on  the  question.  I took  this  position  because 
I am  chosen  by  the  Republican  party  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  national  issues,  and,  by  no  act  of 

/mine  shall  any  question  be  obtruded  into  the  na- 
tional campaign  which  belongs  properly  to  the  do- 
■ main  of  State  politics.”  That  is  to  say,  the  liquor 
question  has  no  place  in  a national  campaign;  it 
belongs  to  State  politics,  and  in  the  State  it  is  very 
rigidly  and  very  properly  separated  from  party 
issues  and  party  lines. 

It  is  into  the  hands  of  a party  thus  constituted 
and  elected  on  other  issues,  which  has  never  taken 
a well  defined  position  on  the  drink  question,  and 
has  within  its  ranks  both  a temperance  and  a liquor 
element,  that  the  prohibition  policy  is  thrust  for 
its  life.  A swaddled  infant  has  been  laid  in  the 
party’s  lap,  to  call  forth  the  mingled  feigned  love, 
fear,  and  aversion  of  an  irregular  parentage.  Will 
the  party  look  faithfully  after  the  law  ? It  will 


Alleged  Faildkes  of  Prohibitiost.  339 


not  do  it  effectually  if  it  can;  it  can  not  do  it 
effectually  if  it  will.  Tlie  party  will  do  one  of 
three  things,  any  of  which  will  turn  out  rather 
adversely  for  the  cause  of  temperance. 

1.  The  party  will  try  to  conciliate  both  its 
temperance  and  its  liquor  constituents,  endeavor- 
ing to  retain  the  favor  and  support  of  both  by  not 
too  seriously  offending  either.  This  is  obviously 
the  first  recourse.  Any  party  will  be  slow  to 
hazard  its  life  unnecessarily  on  an  extraneous  is- 
sue like  temperance.  If  it  is  true  of  an  individual 
that  self-preservation  is  nature’s  first  law,  it  is 
' more  true  of  an  established  political  party.  An  in- 
dividual, under  great  stress  of  soul,  may  sometimes 
forget  considerations  of  safety  and  even  court 
death ; but  a political  party  never.  It  is  true  that 
in  the  beginning  a party  is  sometimes  launched 
forth  upon  some  wave  of  moral  impulse,  but  after 
it  becomes  of  age  and  begins  to  feel  the  exhilara- 
tion of  success,  of  applause  and  emolument,  its  aim 
becomes  less  ethical,  and  its  spirit  less  heroic.  It 
comes  to  be  moved  more  and  more  by  the  one  con- 
I sideration — success,  that  is,  victory  at  the  polls. 
In  the  meantime  it  develops,  by  specialization,  a 


340  A Centuky  of  Deenjc  Kefoem. 

set  of  men — the  practical  or  professional  politi- 
cians, office-holders,  and  office-seekers — whose  spe- 
cial work  it  is  to  emphasize  this  necessity  of  suc- 
cess, and  to  steer  the  party  craft  intact  through  the 
breakers  of  discontent  and  popular  caprice,  which 
ever  and  again  threaten  it  with  disruption  and  de- 

Ifeat.  Expediency  rather  than  right  becomes  the 
rule  of  party  action.  Eidelity  of  its  oath  of  office 
counts  for  something,  of  course,  but  the  interests 
of  party  are  supreme. 

In  its  relation  to  the  prohibitory  law,  there- 
fore, the  party  will  adopt  a conservative  attitude 
just  as  far  as  this  is  possible.  The  situation  is 
serious,  for  the  party  owes  its  success  to  the  com- 
bined votes  of  those  who  have  ardently  favored, 
and  those  who  have  determinedly  opposed,  the 
very  policy  of  prohibition  which  the  party’s  offi- 
cials have  now  taken  a solemn  oath  to  enforce. 
I The  law  will  not  he  enforced — ^very  rigidly.  In 
localities  where  temperance  sentiment  is  strong, 

V+he  enforcement,  mider  local  pressure  and  by  local 
fficials,  will  be  more  stringent.  In  other  locali- 
ties, where  sentiment  is  less  pronounced  and  pres- 
sure from  the  liquor  element  is  felt,  the  law  will 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  341 


be  more  or  less  openly  violated.  The  party  will 
adopt  no  general,  uniform  policy  of  enforcement 
the  State  over,  as  it  not  only  has  a right  to  do,  but 
is  in  duty  bound  to  do  if  local  officials  fail  of  their 
duty,  or  need  re-enforcement.  In  taking  this  atti- 
tude the  party  will  please  most  and  offend  the  few- 
est among  its  own  number.  It  will  impress  upon 
the  temperance  people,  those  within  the  party  at 
least,  that  it  is  making  every  reasonable  effort  to 
enforce  the  law  as  far  as  sentiment  will  permit. 
And  party  loyalty  is  strong  enough  on  this  side  to 
make  such  course  reasonably  safe,  nothing  less  than 
undisguised  party  perfidy  or  open  insult  being 
likely  to  cause  these  to  break  away.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  liquor  and  anti-prohibition  elements 
within  the  party  will  content  themselves  with  the 
furthest  concessions  which  may  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected, the  situation  being  bad  at  the  best. 

This  appears  to  have  been  the  situation,  for  in- 
stance, in  Kansas,  which  led  to  the  Carrie  Kation 
joint-smashing  crusade,  of  recent,  terrible  memory. 
It  has  been  the  policy,  more  or  less,  at  some  time  or 
other,  in  every  State  that  has  had,  or  has,  prohi- 
bition. It  is  from  this  condition  of  things  that 


342  A Centuet  of  Deink  Eefoem. 


much  of  what  we  hear  of  the  failure  of  prohibi- 
tion originates.  That  there  is  a failure  somewhere 
here — this  appears  manifest. 
f 2.  The  party  in  office,  again,  after  the  people 
I have  declared  for  prohibition,  may  secretly  yield 
I so  far  to  the  influence  of  the  liquor  interests  by 
" refusing,  in  its  legislative  capacity,  to  enact  meas- 
I ures  sufficient  to  carry  prohibition  into  effect,  or 
^ refusing  in  its  executive  capacity,  to  try  reason- 
I ably  to  enforce  such  measures  as  it  has  enacted, 
/ that  the  very  people  who  supported  the  amend- 
/ ment  will  now,  in  sad  disgust  at  the  law’s  failure, 
vote  for  its  repeal. 

j This  was  the  case,  for  instance,  in  Ehode 
I Island  under  the  short  constitutional  prohibition 
3 regime,  from  1886  to  1889.  The  people,  aroused 
■ at  the  dictation  of  the  liquor  power  in  State  poli- 
tics, and  at  the  disregard  by  the  party  in  power 
for  the  open  violation  of  the  very  moderate  restric- 
tion law^s  throughout  the  State,  voted  by  more 
than  the  required  three-fifths  majority  for  consti- 
tutional prohibition.  Under  the  double  system, 
again,  of  voting  at  such  time — voting  now  on  the 
amendment,  now  for  a national  party  organization 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  343 


-a  system  under  whicli  the  right  hand  knows  not 
Avhat  the  left  doeth,  the  prohibition  policy  was  en- 
trusted for  its  enforcement  to  the  self-same  party 
at  whose  subservience  to  the  liquor  interests  the 
\ people  had  just  protested.  The  leopard  did  not — 

/perhaps  could  not — change  his  spots.  The  party 
remained  subservient  to  the  liquor  interests  still. 
The  legislative  measures  enacted  to  make  prohibi- 
tion effective  were  inadequate.  Amendments  to 
these  measures  were  promised  in  return  for  tem- 
perance support,  but  never  materialized.  The 
State  and  local  officials,  who  had  sworn  to  admin- 
ister the  laws  of  the  commonwealth  honestly  and 
impartially,  were  largely  indifferent  to  open  viola- 
tions of  the  prohibitory  law, — officials,  to  quote  the 
attorney-general  of  the  State,  that  could  have  made 
the  law  affective  ‘Tad  they  shown  any  honest  dis- 
position to  respect  their  oaths  of  office.”  The  chief 
party  journals,  notably  the  Providence  Journal, 
which  fought  prohibition  from  the  beginning,  at- 
tributed these  violations  to  the  inherent  weakness 
of  the  prohibition  policy,  rather  than  where  it  be- 
longed, to  inherent  weakness  in  the  party’s  officials. 
Thus  after  three  years  of  violation  and  open 


344  A Centuky  of  Dbink  Refoem. 

abuse,  at  the  very  time  when  temperance  people 
were  looking  for  more  effective  legislation,  in  ac- 
cordance with  recent  party  pledges,  and  for  a more 
determined  effort  at  enforcement,  the  legislature, 
under  the  liquor  lobby’s  influence  passed  a vote  to 
submit  the  amendment  to  the  people  for  repeal. 
I And  by  practically  cutting  off  public  discussion  in 
I fixing  the  date  for  the  popular  vote  at  twenty  days ; 
I by  specially  changing  and  putting  off  the  time  at 
I which  a ballot  reform  act  was  to  go  into  effect 
I until  after  that  date ; by  misrepresentation  and  lay- 
f ing  the  blame  all  on  the  law;  by  money,  and  by 
the  honest  conviction  of  large  numbers  of  good 
men  that  it  “can’t  be  done,”  the  amendment  was 
repealed.  Which  was  true : it  can’t  be  done — that 
way. 

3.  The  party  in  power,  on  the  other  hand, 
r may  seek  no  favor  and  tolerate  no  complicity  with 
i’  the  liquor  interests,  but  with  a respect  unto  its 
oath  of  office  seek  an  honest  and  determined  en- 
^ forcement  of  the  prohibitory  law.  It  may  not  be 
"*  able  to  do  this  completely,  owing  to  the  limitations, 
territorial  and  other,  imposed  upon  the  party  from 
without  and  from  within,  yet  reasonably  and  suffi- 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  345 


ciently  well  to  give  all  encouragement  to  tlie 
friends  of  temperance.  The  prohibition  policy, 
from  its  achievement  of  good  and  its  promise  of 
yet  greater  good  as  thus  administered,  may  have 
every  prospect  of  permanence  and  of  offering  a 
last  glad  solution  of  the  whole  vexed  drink  ques- 
tion— and  the  next  election  will  come  around.  At 
that  election  this  will  take  place : the  temperance 
votes  of  the  State  will,  as  usual,  he  divided  among 
the  several  parties  as  an  expression  upon  national 
party  issues,  while  the  liquor  interests,  instead  of 
voting  dividedly  as  before,  will  now,  with  their 
business-above-party  policy,  throw  their  united 
support  against  the  party  in  power,  and  defeat  it. 

From  the  time  when  the  first  prohibition  law 
was  enacted,  that  of  Maine,  in  1851,  over  which 
the  Democratic  party  in  that  State  went  to  pieces, 
up  to  the  present  time,  wherever  the  party  officials 
have  taken  their  oaths  of  ofiice  seriously,  this  has 
been  the  result.  The  most  conspicuous  instance  of 
this  is  the  experience  in  Iowa.  When  under  the 
four  years’  governorship  of  William  Larrabee,  a 
sincere  champion  of  prohibition  from  the  time 
■ that  he  saw  its  fruits,  the  breweries  of  the  State 


346  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


had  been  turned  into  oatmeal  mills  and  the  distil- 
^ leries  into  canning  factories ; when  legitimate 
I trade  had  everywhere  expanded,  and  the  only  bnsi- 
I ness  that  had  been  ruined  was  the  saloon  business ; 
when  the  State  had  paid  off  its  last  cent  of  bonded 
indebtedness,  and  its  bank  deposits  had  increased 
I to  exceed  those  of  Illinois,  both  in  number  and  in 
I amount ; when,  next  to  Kansas,  she  ranked  first 
I in  the  Union  in  the  number  of  children,  in  propor- 
I tion  to  the  population,  attending  school;  when 
I criminal  business  and  expenses  had  been  reduced 
from  thirty  to  seventy-five  per  cent,  and  the  jails 
in  many  counties  were  for  the  first  time  entirely 
empty,  and  there  were  fewer  tramps  and  paupers 
in  the  State  than  ever  before ; when  Governor 
Larrabee  had  but  recently  declared  that  the  law 
was  growing  steadily  in  public  favor,  that  prohi- 
bition was  ‘‘beyond  doubt  the  settled  policy  of 
Iowa,”  and  would  he  ratified,  were  it  submitted  to 
a vote  of  the  people,  by  an  overwhelming  majority 
“of  from  sixty  to  eighty  thousand,” — it  was  then 
that  the  party  through  whom  these  things  had 
been  wrought,  a party  which  in  the  Presidential 
election  the  year  before  had  received  a plurality 


Alleged  Failuees  of  Pkohibition.  347 


of  thirty-two  thousand  votes,  was  now,  in  the  State 
election  of  1889,  defeated  by  a plurality  of  nearly 
seven  thousand  votes.  The  Republican  party  was 
defeated  by  a former  member  of  that  party,  Hor- 
ace Boies,  an  opponent  of  prohibition,  who  had 
left  his  party  when  it  first  took  up  this  question, 
I and  now  as  the  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party 

Ilrew  the  liquor  and  anti-prohibition  vote  to  his 
ide.  After  four  years  of  inaction  and  repudia- 
ion,  during  his  incumbency,  when  the  law  had 
leen  put  to  an  almost  open  shame,  public  senti- 
/ ment  had  been  sufficiently  numbed  to  acquiesce  in 
the  enactment,  by  the  legislature  of  1894,  of  the 
Martin  or  “mulct”  law,  whereby  saloons  are  per- 
mitted, or  statedly  “fined,”  in  cities  and  towns 
where  a specified  majority  desire  them. 

Thus  did  prohibition  “fail”  in  Iowa. 

While  this  is  all  plain  enough,  still,  because 
we  have  here  a somewhat  crucial  instance,  we  will 
go  into  the  matter  a little  more  in  detail.  Strictly 
speaking,  Iowa  has  never  been  under  constitutional 
prohibition;  yet  practically  the  same  conditions 
have  prevailed,  except  that  the  virtual  abrogation 
of  prohibition  by  the  enactment  of  the  mulct  law 


348  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

was  accomplished  by  the  legislature  without  the 
sanction  of  a popular  vote.  R'o  sooner  had  the 
people,  in  1882,  declared  for  prohibition  by  a sub- 
stantial majority,  when  the  Supreme  Court,  by 
majority  decision,  pronounced  the  vote  unconsti- 
tutional on  gTounds  of  a technicality,  that  hole  of 
offense  through  which  many  a precious  interest  of 
society  has  been  lost.  Three  words  appeared  in 
the  text  of  the  amendment  as  submitted  to  the 
people  that  were  not  found  in  the  legislative  jour- 
nal as  kept  by  the  clerk  of  the  House.  Though 
the  substance  of  the  law  was  not  changed  in  the 
least,  still  the  submission  was  declared  irregular, 
and  the  vote  null  and  void.  These  jots  and  tittles 
of  the  law  mean  more  to  the  judicial  than  they  do 
to  the  executive  branch  of  our  Government. 

The  temperance  people  were  determined,  how- 
ever, not  to  lose  the  fruits  of  victory.  A mass 
State  convention  of  all  the  temperance  elements 
was  held,  regardless  of  party,  and  the  declaration 
was  sent  forth  that  the  party  in  power  would  be 
held  responsible  for  any  failure  to  carry  out  the 
expressed  desire  of  the  large  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple on  this  question.  In  response  to  this  senti- 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  349 


ment  the  next  legislature  (Republican)  passed  a 
statutory  prohibition  law,  which  went  into  effect 
July  4,  1884.  This  came  near  undoing  the  party. 
There  was  an  abundance  of  temperance  sentiment 
behind  prohibition  in  the  State,  but  it  was  not  all 
behind  this  particular  party  that  was  now  charged 
to  enforce  it.  The  Republican  party  had  a large 
majority,  doubtless,  that  supported  prohibition; 
but  it  also  had  an  integral  element  that  opposed  it, 
and  a house  divided  against  itself  can  not  stand — 
very  long. 

Had  the  Republican  party  been  the  only  party 
in  the  field,  the  better  elements  within  it  would 
doubtless  have  triumphed,  and  prohibition  have 
been  retained.  But  with  another  party  anxious  to 
get  into  the  saddle,  of  almost  equal  strength,  and 
ready  to  take  any  advantage  of  its  opponent’s 
predicament, — a party  to  which  its  anti-prohibi- 
tion and  malcontent  elements  may  decamp,  a 
straight  out-and-out  policy  on  this  question  could 
not  but  be  hazardous.  With  the  election  of  1889 
the  calamity  came,  as  we  have  seen.  Had  the  tem- 
perance voters  been  united  in  the  Republican 
party,  or  in  any  party,  or  under  no  party  name. 


350  A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

this  would  not  have  happened.  But  they  were 
busy  arguing  earnestly  with  one  another  over  na- 
tional party  questions,  such  as  who  was  the  greater 
I man,  Jefferson  or  Lincoln,  Andrew  Jackson  or 
I Grant.  While  they  were  deciding  this,  the  liquor 
I interests  decided  what  should  be  done  with  prohi- 
I bition. 

Brom  this  experience  party  leaders  were  to 
learn  wisdom.  When  one  is  felled  by  an  unex- 
pected blow,  the  first  inquiry  on  recovering  the 
senses  is,  whence  came  it?  Being  out  of  office, 

(the  next  step  with  the  politician  is  to  get  back  in. 
This  he  does,  never  by  enlightening  the  human 
mind  and  removing  prejudice  in  appeal  to  the 

i . . 

I higher  ideals  of  citizenship,  but  by  taking  a studied 
^ advantage  of  these  very  weaknesses  for  personal 
or  party  ends.  The  course  to  be  pursued  now  be- 
came plain.  The  party  must  rid  itself  of  the  in- 
cubus of  prohibition.  Whether  the  people  through- 
out the  State,  if  they  could  have  expressed  them- 
selves by  non-partisan  ballot  on  this  question, 
would  have  still  cast  a majority  for  prohibition — 
‘‘of  from  sixty  to  eighty  thousand,”  as  Governor 
Larrabee  had  declared, — this  was  little  to  the 


Alleged  Failgkes  of  Pkohibition.  351 


point.  The  fact  was,  the  Republican  party  had 
championed  this  issue,  with  all  the  hazard  which 
that  involved,  and  the  people  had  not  sustained  it. 
Besides  the  party  interests  in  the  State,  national 
party  interests  also  demanded  the  abandoning  of 
prohibition.  The  party  in  Iowa  was  anxious  to 
push  forward  its  most  illustrious  son  for  the  honors 
of  the  Presidency,  and  with  a party  in  his  own 
State  behind  him,  stoutly  committed  to  prohibi- 
tion, his  handicap  in  the  nation  at  large  would 
likely  prove  too  considerable. 

Pursuant  to  new  plans,  therefore,  a bill  pro- 
viding for  local  option  was  introduced  in  the  leg- 
islature, in  1892,  a measure  which,  though  it  had 
the  support  of  the  party  press,  was  defeated.  A 
more  definite  step  was  taken  the  following  year  to 
abandon  prohibition.  The  party  at  its  State  con- 
vention that  year  declared  as  follows : ‘‘Resolved, 
That  prohibition  is  no  test  of  Republicanism.  That 
the  General  Assembly  has  given  to  the  State  a pro- 
hibitory law  as  strong  as  has  ever  been  enacted  by 
any  government.  That,  like  all  criminal  statutes, 
its  retention,  modification,  or  repeal,  must  be  de- 
termined by  the  General  Assembly,  elected  by  and 


352  A Century  of  Drink  EEFORii. 


jin  sympathy  with  the  people,  and  to  them  is  rele- 
f gated  the  subject,  to  take  such  action  as  they  deem 
just  and  best  in  the  matter ; to  maintain  the  pres- 
ent law  in  those  portions  of  the  State  where  it  is 
now  or  can  be  made  efficient,  and  give  to  other  lo- 
calities such  methods  of  controlling  ‘and  regulat- 
ing the  liquor  traffic  as  will  serve  the  cause  of  tem- 
perance and  morality.” 

On  this  platform  the  Republican  party  again 
came  into  possession  of  its  birthright — the  State 
administration.  In  accordance  with  this  position 
of  the  party  platform,  the  mulct  law  was  passed 
the  following  year,  in  1894,  and  signed  by  the 
Republican  governor.  Under  this  policy  the  ele- 
ments that  temporarily  left  the  party  have  come 
back,  and  the  party  has  recently  carried  its  sixth 
consecutive  election.  It  is  significant  of  the 
change  of  political  fortunes  and  favors,  that  the 
present  incumbent  of  the  executive  office,  Mr.  A. 
B.  Cummins,  elected  in  1901,  and  re-elected  in 
1903,  should  he  the  very  one  who  in  1889  led  the 
anti-prohibition  faction  out  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  helped  to  defeat  it. 

notwithstanding  these  known,  or  ascertainable 


Alleged  Failures  of  Prohibition.  353 


facts,  there  are  those  who  have  persistently  at- 
tributed the  defeat  of  prohibition  in  Iowa  to  the 
prohibition  or  “third”  party.  This  minority  party 
has  indeed  served  as  a convenient  scapegoat  for 
the  sins  of  many.  During  those  years  when  pro- 
hibition was  really  at  stake  in  Iowa,  the  “third” 
party  exerted  no  appreciable  influence,  casting 
only  a scattering  vote.  Its  largest  vote  was  cast 
before  the  question  had  ever  been  generally  thought 
of  as  an  issue  in  State  politics,  namely  in  1877, 
when  the  Prohibition  party  polled  10,545  votes. 
It  was  this  considerable  vote,  indeed,  together  with 
the  pressnre  from  the  temperance  elements  within 
the  Republican  party,  that  first  made  prohibition 
an  issue.  When  the  Republican  party  in  1879  de- 
clared its  willingness  to  submit  the  temperance 
question  to  the  people,  the  “third”  party  vote  fell 
to  3,258.  In  1885,  when  the  Republican  party 
had  actually  taken  up  the  issue,  the  “third”  party 
vote  fell  to  1,405.  In  1887,  when  the  Repnblican 
party  showed  its  good  faith  by  renominating  Gov- 
ernor Larrabee,  only  309  ballots  went  to  a separate 
“third”  party  ticket,  from  the  entire  State.  In 
1889,  when  the  Republican  defeat  came,  the 
23 


354  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Refoem. 

“third”  party  vote  aggregated  1,358,  Inasmucli 
as  the  Republican  party  was  beaten  by  a plurality 
of  6,523  in  this  election,  it  could  not  have  won 
even  if  it  had  received  the  entire  “third”  party 
vote,  assuming  that  this  entire  vote  belonged  to  it 
of  right.  Again,  in  1891,  when  the  Republican 
party  was  still  committed  to  prohibition,  in  spite 
of  defection,  only  915  voted  an  independent,  or 
“third”  party  ticket.  In  1893,  however,  when  the 
Republican  party  definitely  abandoned  prohibi- 
tion, and  the  struggle  was  practically  over,  10,349 
votes  were  again  cast  for  the  Prohibition,  or 
“third  party.  If  now  the  1,358  “third”  party 
votes  in  1889,  and  the  915  votes  in  1891,  defeated 
the  Republican  party  in  each  case,  why  did  not 
the  10,349  “third”  party  votes  in  1893  also  de- 
feat it  ? 

Thus  have  the  temperance  people  in  many 
States  asked  for  bread,  and  they  have  received — 
strong  drink.  They  asked,  but  they  asked  amiss, 
and  therefore  received  not.  They  had  the  correct 
principle,  but  their  methods  were  bungling.  The 
heart  was  right,  but  the  head  Avas  not  clear. 

In  all  these  reversals  of  the  policy  of  prohibi- 


Alleged  Failukes  of  Pkohibition.  355 


/ tion,  whether  constitutional  or  statutory  simply, 
/ it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  with  the  exception 
I of  Rhode  Island,  South  Dakota,  and  Vermont, 
I prohibition  has  never  yet  been  repealed  by  the  peo- 
' pie  themselves.  The  manner  of  repeal  in  Rhode 
Island  has  already  been  noted.  In  South  Dakota, 
through  the  liberal  use  of  money  in  the  legislature 
by  the  brewing  and  liquor  interests  outside  the 
State,  the  amendment  was  first  resubmitted  to  the 
people,  and  by  the  colonization  of  large  numbers 
of  voters  from  across  the  State  line, — a thing  made 
possible  under  the  loose  registration  laws  of  the 
State — a small  majority  was  secured  for  repeal,  in 
1897.  In  Vermont,  after  fifty-one  years  of  un- 
broken prohibition,  with  the  surrounding  States 
all  making  and  selling  liquor,  and  seeking  to  break 
down  the  law,  in  a popular  referendum,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1903,  the  people  voted  for  local  option  by 
a majority  of  about  1,200  in  a total  vote  of  60,000. 

Official  collusion  and  party  incapacity  have 
I crippled  prohibition  laws ; legislatures,  yielding  to 

/corruption  or  to  party  expediency,  have  repealed 
them;  governors  have  vetoed,  courts  have  scruti- 
I nized  and  declared  void,  and  our  great  Govern- 


c 


356  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Kefoem. 

ment,  through  it  all,  has  spoken  peace  to  the  sa- 
loon ; but  the  honest  sentiment  of  the  people  them- 
selves, as  shown  in  the  continued  support  they  have 
given  to  prohibition  with  all  its  handicap,  and  as 
seen  in  the  constantly  growing  area  under  local 
option — uneven  though  that  contest  is, — these, 
with  many  other  incontestible  proofs,  show  that 
conviction  has  never  been  so  deep  or  widespread 
as  it  is  to-day,  that  the  dramshop  and  the  entire 
commerce  in  strong  drink  must  be  suppressed. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


The  Lessons  of  Expekience:  A Temperance 
Constituency. 


But  will  the  people  ever  succeed  in  establish- 
ing prohibition,  and  do  away  with  drinking  en- 
tirely, do  you  think 

Omniscience  alone  could  answer  that.  Predic- 
tion is  hazardous,  and  may  become  fatuous.  Xo 
man  can  say  yes  or  no  to  this,  of  knowledge ; for 
we  deal  here  not  with  an  objective,  demonstrable 
truth,  but  with  that  somewhat  uncertain  factor, 
human  impulses  and  the  human  will.  That  man 
is  better  off,  every  way,  without  the  use  of  strong 
drink,  and  that  he  ought  therefore  of  reason  not  to 
drink,  this  is  readily  demonstrable.  That  society 
— man  in  the  aggregate — would  be  better  off, 
every  way,  without  the  trade  of  liquor-selling,  this 
too  can  scarcely  be  seriously  questioned.  But  to 
induce  the  tippling  man  actually  to  leave  his  cup ; 
to  prevail  upon  the  aggregation  of  men,  with  their 
357 


358  A Cejstttjey  of  Deink  Rf-foem. 

I diverse  prejudices  and  self-interests,  actually  to 

I address  themselves  to  putting  this  offense  out  of 
J their  way, — this  is  a somewhat  different  matter. 
Whether  a man  will  say  yes  or  no  to  this,  will  de- 
Iiend  largely  upon  his  philosophy  and  view-point 
of  life.  To  say  that  these  things  will  he  accom- 
plished, resolves  itself  into  a matter  of  faith  in 
God  and  in  human  nature ; a faith,  namely,  that 
in  the  free  field  of  self-government,  whether  per- 
sonal or  political,  individual  or  social,  the  better 
elements  in  man  will  in  the  long  run  predominate ; 
that  he  Avill  both  discern  and  do  that  which  is  right 
and  good.  To  ridicule  these  things,  therefore,  as 
there  are  always  those  who  do,  clinching  it  with  a 
lofty,  laconic  “l^ever!”  as  though  they  possessed 
some  superior  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  men, 
indicates  nothing  superior  whatever.  It  does  not 
speak  to  the  credit  of  anybody. 

The  fact  that  in  every  State  and  commrmity  of 
the  nation  the  moral  forces  have  repeatedly  and 
with  increasing  energy  thrown  themselves  into  this 
great  conflict,  and  have  failed  of  complete  success 
only,  not  so  much  from  a lack  of  zeal  and  deter- 
mination as  from  a lack  of  clear  knowledge, — the 


The  Lessons  oe  Experience. 


359 


f fact  that  the  temperance  reformation  over  the  coun- 

; try  at  large  lacks  yet  of  being  accomplished  chiefly 

j because  men  have  hitherto  not  been  able  to  see 

I clearly  how  it  could  be  done,  or  because  they  are 

I yet  laboring  under  the  delusion  of  gain,^ — -these 

j things  point  strongly  to  but  one  ultimate  outcome. 
3 

’ And  when  the  temperance  people  see  clearly  that 
it  can  be  done,  and  how;  when  the  commercial 
citizen,  Esau’s  child,  awakens  to  a knowledge  of 
the  fact  that  not  only  will  a town  and  a State  be 
able  to  meet  its  expenses  without  the  saloon,  but 
that  when  the  vast  wealth  which  is  now  worse  than 
j wasted  on  liquor  shall  be  turned  aside  to  the  build- 
ing  of  roads,  and  into  the  legitimate  lines  of  trade, 
towns  and  communities  will  for  the  first  time  be- 
gin to  enjoy  real  prosperity ; when  the  drinker  be- 
gins to  realize  that  a man  will  not  die  even  if  de- 
prived of  his  grog;  and  the  drink-seller,  increas- 
ingly aware  that  the  Church,  the  school,  and  every 
wife  and  mother  are  against  his  business,  and  or- 
ganizations of  labor,  of  industry  and  insurance, 
fraternal  orders — everybody,  even  his  own  con- 
science,— when  the  drink-seller  begins  to  see  that 
there  are  abundant  other  occupations  at  which  he 


360  A Centuky  of  Drink  Reform. 

may  earn  a living — an  unquestioned,  respectable 
living,  and  take  kis  place  again  in  society,  with  his 
family, — then,  then  the  end  of  the  long  conflict 
■will  have  been  brought  near. 

The  much-mentioned  ‘‘failures”  of  prohibition 
throw  a fl^ood  of  light  upon  the  intricacies  of  this 
question.  They  are  of  more  value  than  many 
theories.  They  are  an  indictment  which  falls 
where  those  who  bring  it  forth  have  least  foreseen. 
The  liquor  man  who  cries  “failure”  is  hurling  a 
boomerang  that  comes  back  to  his  o'wn  law-defying, 
intimidating,  corrupting  self,  who  is  at  bottom  the 
whole  cause  of  such  failure ; who  is  law-abiding 
only  when  the  law  is  to  his  liking ; who  aflB.rms  the 
principle  of  majority  rule  so  long  as  it  permits 
him  to  inflict  himself  upon  the  community,  but  de- 
nies it  when  it  says  that  such  infliction  shall  cease. 
As  long  as  the  temperance  people  are  in  the  mi- 
nority they  must  suffer  him;  when  they  have  be- 
come a majority  they  must  still  suffer  him. 

The  temperance  man,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
speaks  of  failure,  condemns  the  very  method  which 
he  has  advocated  as  ideal  and  sufficient  to  achieve 
the  suppression  of  the  drink  trade.  Moreover,  he 


The  Lessons  of  Expekience. 


361 


confesses  to  his  own  inconsistency.  He  went  forth 
under  the  banner  of  non-partisanship  to  conquer, 
and  abandoned  that  standard  in  the  very  crisis  of 
the  fight.  He  followed  the  non-partisan  method 
only  long  enough  to  say  that  he  wanted  prohibi- 
tion ; all  the  rest  was  left  in  party  hands.  He  was 
so  zealous  that  the  temperance  question  should 
not  be  made  the  football  of  party  politics,  yet  it 
was  his  own  hands  that  unwittingly  rolled  it  into 
the  party  arena.  Whatever  neglect  and  abuse  pro- 
hibition has  suffered  it  has  received  there. 

I The  situation  then  is  this : party  machinery 
defeating  popular  sentiment  and  popular  will, 
either  by  not  doing  the  work  of  enforcement  well 
enough,  or  by  doing  it  well  enough  and  going  to 
pieces.  The  drink  question  may  have  been  safe 
enough  in  party  hands  fifty  years  ago,  hut  it  is 
not  so  now.  An  entirely  different  condition  con- 
fronts us.  The  liquor  business,  under  the  disci- 
pline of  heavy  taxation,  has  become  solidly  organ- 
ized, strong,  keen,  resourceful,  and  jealous  for  its 
preservation.  Its  sphere  of  operation  is  politics, 
and  behind  the  party  form  of  government  it  finds 
an  impregnable  bulwark.  It  has  for  many  years 


362  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

been  tbe  most  active  and  dominant  single  factor  in 
our  political  life.  It  is  a force  wbich  every  office- 
seeker  bas  felt,  and  every  aspirant  to  office  must 
reckon  Avitk.  To  antagonize  it  openly  means  a 
heavy  handicap  for  any  man  in  the  political  race. 
This  is  true  not  only  of  the  individual,  but  of  the 
party  as  well,  as  every  wise  party  leader  knows. 

I Ethics  is  thus  apt  to  be  sacrificed  to  expediency, 
I personal  honor  to  the  itch  for  office.  Experience 
in  public  life  seems  to  corroborate  the  somewhat 
cynical  reflection  of  the  late  Senator  John  J.  In- 
galls, when  he  said  of  the  relation  of  ethics  to  poli- 
tics, that  the  party  that  takes  for  its  rule  the  Deca- 
I logue  and  the  Sermon  on  the  klount  may  retain, 
I after  election,  the  approval  of  conscience,  but  that 
/ the  other  side  will  get  about  everjAhing  else. 

But,  with  reference  to  this  question,  it  will  be 
contended,  is  not  the  oi’^erwhelming  temperance 
sentiment  of  the  country  entitled  to  respect  ? It 
certainly  is.  It  is  not  considerations  of  respect, 
however,  that  determine  the  policy  of  a political 
party.  It  is  fear  and  hope  rather,  motives  of  pru- 
dence, Avhich  govern  party  action.  It  is  this  mo- 
tive, vffien  thrown  into  the  scales  of  political  wis- 


The  Lessons  of  Expekience. 


363 


dom,  that  inclines  the  beam  toward  the  interests  of 
liquor.  Thus,  while  our  parties  have  a large  tem- 
i perance  constituency  which  they  would  like  not  to 
1 offend,  they  have  also  a large  liquor  constituency 
I which  they  dare  not  offend.  For  if  the  party 
should  take  a strong  and  unequivocal  stand  on  the 
side  of  temperance,  its  liquor  element  would 
quickly  and  without  compunction  leave  it  and  de- 
feat it.  If  on  the  other  hand,  the  party  maintains 
conciliatory  and  friendly  relations  with  the  liquor 
/interests,  its  temperance  element  will  still  remain 
/ with  it,  the  party  leaders  focusing  the  mind  upon 
[ other  things ; and  so,  with  the  support  of  both,  in 
a contest  where  all  mention  of  the  troublesome 
question  is  carefully  avoided,  the  party  wins.  Con- 
sequently when  a liquor  man  and  a temperance 
man  vote  for  the  same  party  candidate,  the  former 
assured  that  his  business  will  not  be  molested,  and 
the  latter  believing  and  hoping  that  it  will  be,  it 
is  the  latter  who  is  usually  disappointed. 

But  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  the  children 
of  this  world  should  be  so  much  and  constantly 
wiser  than  the  children  of  light,  you  say.  This  ob- 
servation has  at  least  the  corroborative  testimony 


364 


A Cesttuky  of  Dkink  Refoem. 


of  age.  It  should  be  said,  however,  that  such  ad- 
vantage in  the  instance  of  the  drink  struggle  has 
not  been  gained  in  wholly  open  and  honorable  com- 
bat. It  has  been  won  by  a subterfuge  movement. 
Sin  first  deceives,  then  slays.  Thus,  while  our 
political  parties  maintain  a conciliatory  policy 
toward  the  liquor  vote,  in  order  not  to  lose  its  sup- 
port, they  would  hardly  have  the  effrontery  to 
come  before  the  temperance  people  and  make  ap- 
peal for  their  vote  also,  on  the  basis  of  this  atti- 
||  tude.  It  is  by  persuading  the  temperance  vote  that 
I this  is  of  but  small  consequence  either  way  just  at 
[ this  juncture,  that  temperance  should  not  be  mixed 
up  with  politics;  that  the  urgent  question  calling 
for  decision  is,  shall  our  commercial  integrity  he 
I preserved,  our  national  honor  vindicated,  and  na- 
j tional  calamity  he  averted, — it  is  by  diverting  the 
mind  to  such  absorbing  counter  interests  that  the 
party  pilots,  having  made  peace  with  the  liquor  in- 
terests, are  able  also  to  win  the  enthusiastic  sup- 
port of  the  temperance  vote,  and  steer  clear  of  the 
breakers  of  revolt. 

Thus  while  the  liquor  voter  knows  no  other 
issue  in  a political  canvass  until  his  own  is  safe. 


The  Lessons  oe  Experience. 


365 


the  temperance  voter  knows  no  drink  issue  until 
all  others  are  safe. 

Thus  whichever  party  wins,  the  liquor  man 
lands  on  top. 

Thus  all  efforts  to  induce  our  political  parties 
to  give  recognition  to  the  temperance  question  in 
their  platforms  have  been  futile  and  vain. 

Thus  while  in  every  State,  every  county,  city, 
and  village  where  men  have  labored  to  be  rid  of 
the  saloon,  the  very  difficulties  and  failures  of  en- 
forcement have  been  so  many  formal  appeals  to  the 
nation’s  capital  for  relief,  this  question  is  waiting 
to-day,  with  its  cumulative  evidence,  before  this 
final  court  of  adjudication,  and  by  perpetual  post- 
ponement is  denied  a hearing. 

The  fact  that  there  are  two  fairly  balanced  par- 
ties in  the  nation,  who  by  virtue  of  their  persistent 
championship  of  other  issues  have  divided  the  tem- 
perance sentiment  of  the  country  between  them, 
has  enabled  the  liquor  interests  to  maintain  an 
effectual  balance  of  power,  between  them  on  the 
drink  question,  l^either  party  will  recognize  this 
question,  rid  itself  entirely  of  its  liquor  contingent 
and  be  willing  to  suffer  defeat,  if  need  be  for  a 


366  A Centtjby  of  Deiftk  Kefoe3i. 

season,  until  it  shall  have  gathered  to  its  standard 
the  moral  forces  of  the  nation,  and  carried  this  re- 
form to  its  consummation. 

I The  question  must  be  taken  out  of  the  sphere 
I of  partisan  politics.  The  method  which  wrought 
\such  majorities  for  prohibition  in  Kansas,  Iowa, 
Maine,  Rhode  Island,  and  the  Dakotas,  and  piled 
up  so  large  a vote  in  a dozen  other  States,  suggests 
to  us  the  correct  method  of  procedure.  It  is  the 
I non-partisan  method,  as  it  has  been  named,  with 
I this  difference,  that  it  shall  now  be  consistently 
employed  to  the  end.  The  crippling  and  partial 
failure  of  prohibition  in  these  States  has  not  been 
due  to  the  non-partisan  method,  but  to  the  aban- 
donment of  that  method  the  moment  prohibition 
had  been  declared  for.  To  carry  out  a public 

(policy  requires  not  alone  the  enactment  of  a law, 
but  the  faithful  execution  also  of  that  law,  imtil 
« its  benefits  shall  have  become  so  manifest  and  gen- 
5 erally  accepted  that  serious  opposition  to  it  will 
cease.  Especially  is  this  true  of  prohibition,  which 
encounters  difficulties  unknown  to  other  laws. 
Kow  in  these  States  the  non-partisan  method  did 
not  even  extend  to  the  framing  of  the  law,  still  less 


The  Lessons  of  Experience. 


367 


to  its  enforcement.  All  these  things  were  left  to 
regular  party  machinery,  with  such  means  and 
disposition  as  were  found  at  hand.  The  non-par- 
tisan method  went  so  far  as  to  say,  simply,  that 
the  people  wanted  such  a law.  But  it  did  enable 
the  people  to  find  their  voice  on  this  question,  and 
to  speak  so  clearly  as  to  be  heard  above  the  din  of 
political  strife.  Herein  lies  the  promise  of  this 
method.  Only  something  more  is  necessary  than 
going  to  the  polls  and  recording  a wish.  To  a self- 
governing  people  is  given  the  privilege  and  power 
to  carry  this  wish  into  effect. 

The  same  people,  therefore,  who  in  a momen- 
tary forgetfulness  of  party  feeling  have  said  that 
they  wanted  a prohibition  law,  must  keep  in  their 
own  hands  also  the  actual  framing  of  such  a law, 
and  themselves  enforce  it.  Under  our  form  of 
government  this  is  done  through  chosen  represent- 
atives. To  this  end  all  those  who  have  cast  their 
votes  together,  regardless  of  party,  for  prohibition, 
must  also  cast  their  ballots  together  for  certain 
men  of  their  own  number — ^legislators — ^who  will 
adequately  enact  this  policy  into  law;  and  again 
cast  their  ballots  together  for  certain  other  men 


368  A Centuey  oe  Dkink:  Refokm. 

of  their  O’wn  number — executive  o£S.cials — ^vbo 
will  effectually  carry  this  law  into  execution.  This 
is  not  yet  enough.  These  voters  must  for  a time 
at  least  remain  together — ^they  must  form  a con- 
stituency— ^to  uphold  their  representatives  in  ofB.ce, 
so  that  these  latter,  after  having  faithfully  done 
their  work,  shall  not  be  subtly  dislodged  from  office 
by  the  enemy,  but  shall  be  retained  in  power  until 
the  storm  and  stress  is  over,  and  the  law  shall  have 
become  a part  of  the  established  policy  of  the  com- 
monwealth. 

Portland,  Maine,  has  recently  offered  a sug- 
gestive experiment  in  law  enforcement.  Maine 
has  a strong,  faultless  prohibition  law,  but  the 
executive  officials  to  whom  it  has  been  entrnsted 
have  not  always  been  above  suspicion.  Rot  a few 
of  them  here,  as  elsewhere,  have  been  obsen^ed 
after  their  term  of  office  to  build  large  houses  and 
to  live  comfortably  ever  afterwards.  The  temper- 
ance people  of  Cumberland  County,  in  the  fall  of 
1900,  having  become  exercised  over  the  condition 
of  affairs,  forgot  their  party  affiliations  for  a mo- 
ment and  united  on  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Pearson,  a 
Methodist  mission  worker  in  Portland,  for  the 


"The  Lessons  oe  Expekience. 


369 


office  of  sheriff.  He  had  avowed  that  if  elected 
i he  would  enforce  prohibition  and  bring  every  law- 
I breaker  to  justice;  and  the  people  believed  him. 
I The  records  show  that  he  kept  his  promise.  Here 
I in  Maine’s  largest  city,  a short  distance  only  from 
I the  Hew  Hampshire  line  where  the  manufacture 
I of  liquor  is  made  lawful,  and  from  Massachusetts 
where  both  the  making  and  selling  of  strong  drink 
are  a source  of  large  revenue  to  the  State, — in  this 
seaport  city  and  railroad  center  with  such  trans- 
portation facilities  by  land  and  water,  here  this 
determined  man,  with  several  doughty  deputies, 
wrought  such  works  that  his  name  went  out  to  the 
ends  of  the  nation.  Every  ingenious  or  desperate 
device,  such  as  is  kno'wn  only  to  criminals,  was  re- 
peatedly foiled,  and  the  last  persistent,  boasting, 
defying  law-breaker  gave  up  the  fight  in  despair. 
I The  saloon  closed  up  business  in  Portland,  and  in 
I Cumberland  County ; the  city  gained  in  peace  and 
I order,  and  according  to  the  report  of  the  mayor, 
I realized  a considerable  saving  in  its  poor  account. 
I The  Pearson  regime  in  Portland  showed  two 
I things:  (1)  what  temperance  voters  can  do  when 
they  get  together  to  secure  the  right  kind  of  man 
24 


370  A Centuey  of  Deink  Eefoem. 

for  office;  and  (2)  wliat  such  man  can  do  to  gal- 
vanize a “dead”  law  into  life,  and  make  it  a terror 
to  the  evil-doer  and  an  instrument  of  blessing  to 
the  commimity.  One  thing  only  remained  to  be 
demonstrated,  prevented  by  the  sudden  death  of 
Mr.  Pearson  shortly  before  his  tenn  expired: 
would  the  temperance  voters  of  Cumberland 
County  have  stood  by  Mr.  Pearson  in  the  next 
election  ? 

I7o  prohibition  statute  can  be  enforced  perma- 
nently without  a prohibition  constituency.  Herein 
is  revealed  the  weakness  of  having  the  representa- 
tive of  a party  (a  part)  carry  out  what  the  people 
(a  whole)  have  decreed.  Ho  party  we  have  yet 
had  has  been  able  to  furnish  safe  backing  for  an 
official  to  do  his  duty  Avith  respect  to  prohibition. 
Many  an  executive  official,  from  governor  and 
State’s  attorney  to  town  constable,  has  honestly 
tried  to  enforce  such  laws.  Wise  political  man- 
agers shook  their  heads  and  warned  them  to  relax 
their  zeal,  that  he  was  hurting  party  interests  and 
himself.  Perhaps  he  gave  heed,  with  the  result  we 
all  know.  Perhaps  he  did  not,  with  the  result  that 
the  morning  after  the  next  election  he  was  found 


The  Lessons  of  Expekience. 


371 


outside  tlie  battlement's— dead.  His  own  party 
deserts  him,  or  if  it  does  cling  to  him  both  go 
down  to  defeat.  There  is  but  small  encourage- 
ment for  an  official  to  do  his  full,  toilsome  duty 
when  he  knows  that  it  will  more  than  likely  only 
cost  him  his  place,  and  that  his  work  will  only  be 
undone.  Over  and  over  again  has  this  taken  place, 
and  the  apparent  apathy  or  recession  in  temper- 
ance interest  in  many  communities  is  due  to  this 
circumstance  more  than  to  any  other.  The  people 
have  become  weary  in  well-doing.  They  do  not 
know  what  to  do. 

Form  a temperance  constituency! 

Had  the  temperance  people  of  Iowa,  for  in- 
stance, who  in  1882  voted  for  prohibition  by  thirty 
thousand  majority,  stood  together  to  elect  men 
who  were  to  enact  suitable  legislation,  and  men  to 
enforce  such  legislation ; supporting  in  national 
campaigns  such  party  candidates  as  they  might 
severally  choose,  but  knowing  in  each  succeeding 
State  election  no  issue  but  the  suppression  of  the 
dramshop,  stone  deaf  to  every  party  name,  appeal, 
or  device  to  separate  them, — had  the  temperance 
voters  with  their  safe  majority  remained  together 


372  A Centuey  of  Deink  Kefoem. 

on  this  issue  and  repeatedly  returned  to  office  those 
who  had  been  faithful  in  the  law’s  enforcement, 
until  men  had  forgotten  their  thirst,  and  a genera- 
tion grown  up  who  had  never  known  it,  then  there 
would  have  been  no  waning  and  loss  of  majorities, 
no  Governor  Boies,  no  mulct  law,  no  “failure”  of 
prohibition. 

Let  us  now  apply  these  principles  on  a national 
scale,  as  we  must.  The  cry  of  the  campaign  must 
be,  On  to  Washington!  With  the  rebel  dislodged 
here,  the  Appomattox  of  this  conflict  will  speedily 
follow,  and  the  slave  he  set  free.  But  how  shall 
we  get  to  Washington  ? In  the  States  the  ques- 
tion was  squarely  submitted  to  the  voters,  and  they 
had  a fair  chance  at  it.  The  temperance  people 
made  such  a loud  stir  that  the  legislature  heard 
and  gave  heed,  and  said,  Here ’s  the  question ; vote 
on  it.  But  how  shall  we  get  this  question  before 
the  people  of  the  nation  for  a vote  ? There  has 
been  no  lack  of  stir,  of  agitation  and  appeal.  The 
Churches  in  particular,  representing  a voting 
strength  of  several  million,  and  a moral  strength  of 
millions  more,  declare  peremptorily  at  every  eccle- 
siastical convention  that  the  sanction  of  the  drink 


373 


The  LESgoNS  oe  Expeeience. 

traffic  is  a national  infamy,  and  must  not  be  toler- 
ated. Our  national  parties  have  been  importuned 
that  they  declare  in  favor  of  submitting  the  drink 
question  to  the  people, — a very  reasonable  request, 
as  Senator  Blair  used  to  insist.  The  members  of 
Congress  have  been  labored  with,  and  resolutions 
have  been  introduced  into  Congress  proposing  a 
prohibitory  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  and 
submitting  it  to  the  people  for  a vote.  It  has  all 
been  in  vain. 

The  people  must  clearly  take  the  initiative.  It 
is  not  so  difficult.  From  every  pulpit  and  eccle- 
siastical convention — where  sober  truth  is  uttered, 
if  anywhere — word  has  gone  out  that  the  disposal 
of  this  question  is  of  more  vital  concern  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  Christian  Church  and  of  humanity 
than  is  any  other  question  within  sight  to-day. 
And  the  citizen,  as  he  looks  about  him  and  sees 
things  as  they  occur  in  his  own  community,  and 
everywhere,  will  honestly  respond  deep  in  his  own 
heart,  “It  is  true;  it  is  true;  it  is  surely  true,” 
ISTow,  a thing  so  spoken  must  not  be  lightly  for- 
gotten. It  must  not  be  forgotten  when  the  vani- 
ties and  allurements  of  the  world  would  weave 


374  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

about  us  their  magic  spell.  WTien  some  political 
Simon  Magus,  with  pageant  of  trumpetry  and  il- 
lumination, would  work  some  charm  upon  the  mul- 
titude with  the  mighty  names  of  Jefferson,  or  Lin- 
coln, men  must  not  childlike  be  carried  away  and 
forget  this.  Jefferson  and  Lincoln — ^great  men — 
are  dead.  This  that  has  been  declared  from  pul- 
pit and  in  solemn  assembly  and  in  the  ears  of  the 
people  everywhere,  by  voice  of  mouth  and  of  con- 
science, before  the  political  pageant  came  in  sight, 
must  not  he  forgotten  now,  on  election  morning. 
Declarations,  denunciations,  resolutions,  as  an  af- 
terthought when  the  voting  has  been  done,  have 
missed  the  time  for  action.  The  voter’s  booth  is 
the  citizen’s  confessional,  where  the  sins  of  so- 
ciety must  be  openly  recalled  and  confessed.  Xot 
prayers,  nor  tears,  nor  declarations,  but  votes  are 
the  immediate  agency  that  determines  a public 
policy.  Public  servants  are  hopelessly  deaf  to  all 
sound  except  as  it  is  spoken  through  the  ear- 
trumpet,  the  voter’s  urn. 

On  election  morning  then,  at  the  hallot-box, 
the  temperance  voters  must  take  the  initiative. 
They  must  resolve,  “We  have  declared  this;  we 


The  Lessons  of  Expekience. 


375 


believe  it  now;  our  action  to-day  shall  not  belie 
oiir  word.”  If  the  professional  party  retainer 
conies  around  and  asks,  “And  all  other  issues  must 
wait  till  this  one  is  settled  ?”  they  will  reply, 
“This  issue  shall  not  wait  until  all  others  are  set- 
tled.” If  he  insists  that  there  are  other  questions 
that  demand  attention,  they  will  insist  that  the 
agitation  and  labors  of  a hundred  years  have  given 
the  drink  question  a well-earned  right  of  preced- 
ence. If  temperance  voters  can  agree  on  other 
questions,  well  and  good ; but  they  must  not  disa- 
gree on  this  one  question.  In  every  assembly  dis- 
trict and  every  congressional  district  they  must 
get  together.  ISTo  man  must  receive  their  vote  on 
the  basis  of  his  party  affiliations,  but  solely  be- 
cause he  stands  squarely  committed  on  the  tem- 
perance question.  Devotion  to  this  principle  must 
be  the  bond  of  union  between  them.  Standing 
thus  together  in  each  congressional  district,  the 
temperance  forces  will  insist  that  only  such  repre- 
sentatives are  sent  to  Washington  as  are  pledged 
to  vote  for  the  submission  of  a prohibitory  amend- 
ment to  the  people.  They  will  stand  together  in 
every  State  assembly  and  senatorial  district,  to 


376  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

send  only  men  to  the  State  legislature  who  will 
vote  for  a United  States  Senator  that  is  likewise 
committed.  When  the  senators  and  representa- 
tives in  congress,  so  elected,  have  a two-thirds  ma- 
jority, they  will  frame  a prohibitory  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  and  submit  it  to  the  legislatures 
of  the  several  States.  Here  the  temperance  forces 
must  have  stood  together,  and  from  each  district 
sent  only  such  men  to  the  legislature  who  will  now 
be  ready  to  vote  favorably  upon  the  amendment. 
When  the  amendment  has  been  ratified  by  the 
legislatures  in  three-fourths  of  the  States,  it  be- 
comes a part  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land. 

It  is  a question  whether  Congress  has  not  the 
power  under  the  Constitution,  without  a specific 
amendment,  to  enact  a general  prohibitory  law. 
It  is  true  that  hitherto  the  regulation,  or  disposal, 
of  the  drink  traffic  has  been  considered  as  belong- 
ing to  the  police  function  of  the  States.  All 
powers  not  expressly  delegated  to  Congress  are  re- 
served to  the  States  and  to  the  people ; and  the 
power  to  suppress  the  liquor  traffic  has  not  been 
thus  expressly  delegated  to  Congress.  However, 
it  is  a question  whether  this  matter  is  not  so  far 


The  Lessons  of  Expekience. 


377 


removed  from  having  a merely  local  aspect,  affect- 
ing as  it  does  our  national  life  and  the  whole  peo- 
ple so  vitally,  and  touching  so  closely  the  very  func- 
tions of  government  itself,  that,  in  the  larger  in- 
terpretation of  the  Constitution,  it  would  not  prop- 
erly come  within  the  scope  of  Congressional  action. 
If  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  which  inter- 
prets the  Constitution  both  in  its  letter  and  spirit, 
has  said  that  to  sell  intoxicating  liquor  is  not  an 
inherent  right  in  a citizen  either  of  a State  or  of 
the  United  States ; and  if  it  is  true,  as  the  same 
court  further  declares,  that  the  statistics  of  every 
State  show  a greater  amount  of  crime  and  misery 
attributable  to  the  use  of  the  liquor  obtained  at 
these  saloons  than  to  any  other  one  source;  and 
that  legislatures  have  no  right  to  barter  away  the 
health  and  morals  of  a people,  the  people  them- 
selves having  no  right  to  do  it  (L  e.,  to  vote  it), — 
with  this  understanding  of  facts  and  this  inter- 
pretation of  the  Constitution,  it  is  a question  in- 
deed whether  every  license  or  permissive  law, 
which  allows  this  trade  to  go  on,  should  not  itself 
be  adjudged  unconstitutional.  It  would  seem  that 
there  could  be  little  doubt  that  a government  which 


378  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

was  established  “to  insure  domestic  tranquillity, 
to  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  to  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,” 
has  not  already  the  implied  constitutional  power 
to  suppress  a public  business  so  subversive  of  these 
ends.  Over  in  Canada,  in  1895,  the  Canadian 
Supreme  Court  declared  that  the  power  to  sup- 
press the  liquor  trade  in  all  its  phases  belongs  ex- 
clusively to  the  Dominion,  a decision  that  was  af- 
firmed by  the  Imperial  Privy  Council,  upon  ap- 
peal, in  1896.  The  court  held  that  all  local  option 
laws  in  the  provinces  were  valid,  however.  If 
this  is  a question  for  national  action  in  Canada, 
why  not  also  in  the  United  States  ? 

The  Federal  Government  does  not  now,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  respect  the  prerogative  of  the 
States  to  deal  with  this  question ; for  after  a State 
has  outlawed  the  liquor  trade,  the  Government  in 
the  exercise  of  its  interstate  commerce  control  will 
still  allow  liquor  to  be  shipped  in,  and  will  collect 
revenue  from  every  illicit  i^ender  in  the  State,  as 
the  price  of  peace.  If  the  State  has  sovereign  au- 
thority over  this  particular  form  of  industry,  then 
Uncle  Sam,  whom  we  like  to  think  of  highly,  be- 


The  Lessons  of  Experience. 


379 


comes  in  this  instance  nothing  less  than  a particeps 
criminis.  The  shrewd,  wizened  countenance,  the 
half-closed  eyes,  the  cigar — as  our  newspaper  ar- 
tists conceive  of  him — these,  in  that  case,  become 
him  well.  And  if  the  Government  is  not  bound 
to  respect  the  prohibition  policy  of  a State,  is  it 
any  more  bound  to  respect  the  license  policy  of 
another  State  ? Has  not  a government  which  ex- 
ercises the  prerogative  to  single  out  and  tax  a busi- 
ness heavily,  and  upon  the  non-payment  of  the  tax, 
to  suppress  it,  has  it  not  also  the  power,  under  the 
same  authority,  to  abate  the  business  when  it  has 
manifestly  become  an  intolerable  nuisance?  An 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  will,  at  any  rate, 
remove  any  possibility  of  quibble,  and  will  make 
prohibition  not  only  judicially  safe,  but  also  rea- 
sonably safe  against  repeal. 

With  the  amendment  secured  by  the  means  we 
have  indicated,  a great  work  yet  remains.  Suita- 
ble and  adequate  measures  must  be  enacted  by 
Congress  to  carry  the  provisions  of  the  amend- 
ment into  effect.  This  needs  to  be  well  done.  For 
this  purpose  the  temperance  voters  who  stood  to- 
gether on  the  amendment  must  still  stand  together 


380  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

and  see  that  the  right  men  are  kept  in  Congress 
for  this  work.  The  law  now  having  been  made, 
and  well  made  we  Avill  say,  the  next  matter  to  con- 
sider will  be  the  executive  force  to  carry  it  into 
effect.  Here  the  temperance  voters  must  stand  to- 
gether in  every  voting  precinct  in  the  country  and 
agree  only  upon  such  men,  from  President  to  con- 
stable, Avho  are  squarely  committed  to  prohibition. 
Ho  other  issue  or  consideration  must  divide  them. 
AVith  the  mighty  Federal  executive  enginery  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  sworn  friends  of  temperance, 
the  prohibition  policy  will  for  the  first  time  have 
what  one  might  call  a fair  trial,  as  fair,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  financial  policies  of  our  Government 
have  had. 

But  the  work  is  not  yet  done.  Beware  the 
ides  of  Hovember!  In  the  tumult  of  the  next 
election  there  will  he  some  political  knifing.  The 
good  citizen  must  not  he  unprepared.  The  tem- 
perance voters  Avho  have  stood  together  so  well  may 
not  yet  separate  and  turn  to  other  issues.  They 
must  noAv  form  a temperance  constituency  and 
stand  back  of  the  executive,  and  retain  him,  or 
one  like  him,  in  office.  They  must,  as  a temper- 


The  Lessons  oe  Expekience, 


381 


ance  constituency,  stand  back  of  the  individual 
members  of  Congress  and  retain  them,  or  those 
like  them,  in  office,  lest  measures  be  passed  weak- 
ening prohibition,  or  the  entire  question  be  again 
unexpectedly  submitted  to  the  people  before  the 
policy  has  been  fairly  tried. 

During  these  years  the  temperance  forces 
must  stand  together  solidly  on  this  one  issue. 
They  must  refuse  to  give  recognition  to  any  other 
question  that  might  divide  them.  As  the  liquor 
interests  have  for  many  years  been  a political  unit 
as  touching  their  business,  holding  all  other  inter- 
ests as  secondary,  so  the  temperance  interests  must 
be  a political  unit  as  touching  their  business,  hold- 
ing all  other  considerations  as  secondary.  The 
contention  that  other  questions  are  too  important 
thus  to  wait  upon  this  one,  is  little  to  the  point, 
frequently  as  it  is  heard.  It  does  not  follow  that 
all  other  questions  would  have  to  wait,  that  noth- 
ing would  be  done  during  these  years  but  to  sit 
by  and  watch  the  workings  of  the  prohibition  law. 
Congress  does  many  things  at  a single  sitting.  It 
is  not  a question  of  doing  only  one  thing  when  a 
hundred  are  to  be  done,  but  of  doing  a particular 


382  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

thing — long  postponed — first,  then  attending  to 
other  business  equally  well,  perhaps  better.  A leg- 
islative body  that  can  dispose  of  the  drink  ques- 
tion will  be  able  to  cope,  with  reasonable  assur- 
ance, with  other  questions  that  properly  come  be- 
fore it.  This  is  then  the  difference:  when  the 
temperance  voter  makes  a party  name  the  condi- 
tion of  his  ballot,  the  party  may  Avin  and  certain 
things  be  done,  but  it  vdll  not  be  the  drink  ques- 
tion that  Avill  he  settled;  when  the  temperance 
A^oter,  on  the  other  hand,  makes  the  temperance 
principle  the  condition  of  his  ballot,  entirely  dis- 
entangled from  party  influence,  his  candidate,  too, 
Avill  win;  other  things,  too,  Avill  be  done,  and  the 
drink  question  ivill  be  settled.  On  wholly  prac- 
tical grounds,  therefore,  will  the  temperance  forces 
be  justified  in  standing  solidly  together  and  mak- 
ing the  temperance  principle  instead  of  a party 
name  the  basis  of  union  in  political  action.  The 
country  Avill  hardly  go  to  ruin.  The  good  Lord 
takes  care  of  us  now ; He  Avill  not  take  less  care  of 
a people  that  seek  first  His  righteousness. 

Such  concerted,  consistent  action  in  every 
place,  all  over  the  nation  by  the  friends  of  tern- 


The  Lessors  of  Expebiehce. 


383 


perance  everywhere,  will  require  organization. 
This  mass  of  voters  must  become  a body,  or  it  will 
go  to  pieces.  Loyalty  to  one  supreme  principle 
must  constitute  its  cohesive  power.  There,  must 
be  intercommunication,  mutual  information, 
mutual  confidence.  There  must  be  faithful  lead- 
ership and  wise  counsel.  Eunds  must  be  collected 
and  properly  applied.  Literature  must  be  pre- 
pared and  distributed,  and  many  forms  of  special- 
ized work  must  be  done.  Without  organization 
on  a temperance  basis  there  can  not  be  unity  of 
action  in  securing  temperance  results. 

Then,  after  a period  of  thorough  enforcement, 
secured  and  maintained  by  such  methods,  when 
the  saloon,  like  a plague  spot,  shall  have  been 
wiped  from  every  community ; when  the  vast  sums 
now  spent  annually  for  liquor  shall  go  into  chan- 
nels of  productive  industry, — into  flour  and  shoes 
and  clothing,  books  and  pictures  and  pianos,  into 
good  roads  and  good  houses,  into  education,  relig- 
ion and  philanthropy, — and  legitimate  trade  shall 
have  everywhere  expanded ; when  every  home 
shall  be  happier  and  every  community  a better 
place  to  live  in;  when  a generation  shall  have 


384:  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

grown  up  that  has  never  known  the  hahit  for 
liquor,  nor  the  sight  of  a drunkard;  when  the 
storm  of  prejudice,  of  self-interest,  and  of  appe- 
tite shall  have  subsided, — then  the  victory  will  be 
complete;  then  a reform  more  strongly  contested, 
and  more  fraught  with  blessings  for  mankind  than 
any  other  ever  known,  perhaps,  will  have  been  ac- 
complished. Thenceforth  men  will  he  as  likely  to 
propose  a return  to  the  saloon  system,  as  they  are 
likely  to-day  to  propose  a return  to  the  days  of 
chattel  slavery. 


(III.) 


CHAPTER  XIL 

The  Prohibition  Party  Movement. 

To  THIS  political  movement,  built  upon  lines 
of  a distinctive  temperance  constituency,  and  ad- 
dressing itself  specifically  to  this  one  question, — 
an  organized  movement,  which,  while  in  all  its  his- 
tory it  has  never  carried  a State  or  Xational  elec- 
tion, has  resisted  disintegration  and  survived  de- 
feat— we  shall  devote  our  final  chapter. 

But  before  entering  upon  a discussion  of  this 
movement,  with  a view  to  making  it  more  intelli- 
gible, we  must  pause  and  understand  clearly  the 
philosophy  and  method  of  popular  government, 
and  the  nature  and  function  of  a political  party. 
A party,  in  the  proper  sense,  is  not  a permanent, 
self-existing,  self-perpetuating  political  body,  co- 
extensive with  the  government,  wfith  a beginning 
only,  but  no  end.  It  exists  not  for  itself,  but  for 
the  people,  whose  creature  it  is  and  whose  interests 
it  must  serve.  Its  tenure  of  life  is  conditioned  by 
25  385 


386  A Century  of  Drink  EEFORii. 

the  work  it  has  been  called  into  being  to  perform. 
Thus,  the  people  and  their  interests  are  every- 
thing ; the  party  nothing.  The  people  rule ; the 
party  is  the  servant.  The  people  are  free — not 
bound  by  sect,  creed,  or  party,  bound  only  by  the 
law  of  right.  Statute  laws  they  make  or  unmake, 
as  the  interests  of  the  entire  people  may  demand. 
Parties  are  formed  or  dissolved,  according  as  the 
occasion  for  them  may  arise  or  cease.  When  in 
the  exigency  of  time  an  important  new  issue  is 
thrust  forward,  for  instance,  the  citizens,  after  full 
and  free  discussion,  unhampered,  will  arrange 
themselves  about  it  according  to  their  several  con- 
victions, and  through  the  electorate  the  majority 
conviction  is  carried  into  etfect  of  law.  This  con- 
certed action  to  carry  out  a specific  governmental 
policy ; this  standing  together,  if  the  policy  awak- 
ens opposition,  until  it  shall  have  been  thoroughly 
established  or  tried — this  is  what  properly  consti- 
tutes a party  and  party  action.  The  principle  or 
issue  comes  logically  first,  therefore ; the  party 
afterward.  The  issue  should  form  the  party,  not 
the  party  the  issue.  As  long  as  the  issue  remains 
at  stake,  its  supporters  must  remain  together  as  a 


The  Pkohibition  Party  Movement.  387 


party,  disposing  of  such  other  matters  of  lesser  im- 
portance as  may  in  the  meantime  come  within  the 
province  of  governmental  action.  When  the  main 
issue  is  established,  the  work  of  the  party  is  done, 
and  it  should  be  dissolved.  That  is  to  say,  when 
the  soul,  which  has  lived  and  wrought,  has  gone, 
the  body  is  dead,  and  must  be  allowed  to  return  to 
its  constituent  elements,  to  enter  new  forms.  This 
is  nature’s  method  of  renewal.  In  like  manner 
the  elements  of  a nation’s  citizenship,  when  a 
given  work  has  been  done,  should  be  again  free  and 
assimilable  to  vital  new  political  principles,  to  en- 
ter new  formations  for  new  work.  Thus  will  a 
nation’s  life  be  kept  both  pure  and  progressive. 

Or  as  the  issues  on  a field  of  battle  will  de- 
pend largely  upon  the  mobility  of  the  army,  the 
commander  forming  and  fe-forming,  and  dispos- 
ing his  men  as  the  situation  and  the  changing 
movements  of  the  enemy  shall  require,  so  in  that 
succession  of  battles  of  a nation’s  peace  army,  in 
which,  with  the  weapons  of  a freeman’s  ballot,  in- 
justice, greed,  and  oppression  are  to  be  vanquished, 
the  measure  of  success  will  depend  largely  upon 
the  mobility  of  the  citizen  soldiery,  in  being  able 


388  A Cemtuky  of  Dklnk  Refokm. 

to  form  and  re-form  with  freedom  and  celerity, 
moving  in  attack  now  here,  now  there,  as  the 
enemy  in  various  places  and  forms  shall  threaten. 
The  general  who  leads  this  citizen  host  in  ever  new 
battle  formation  is  known  as  the  statesman.  He 
is  not  a “politician he  is  not  a “party  man,”  but 
a man  of  the  people,  serving  them,  and  God.  He 
does  not  push  himself  forward,  seeking  honors 
and  office,  but  in  the  nation’s  exigency  he  is  drawn 
forth.  And  when  his  service  to  his  country  is 
done,  like  Cincinnatus  of  old,  he  returns  to  his 
plow. 

Herein  lies  the  glory  of  free  republican  insti- 
tutions. The  political  initiative  lies  with  the  free 
people,  and  it  is  they  as  a whole,  not  a part  or  a 
party,  that  forms  the  political  unit  and  the  basis 
of  civic  loyalty.  It  was  for  such  a government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people, 
that  our  forefathers  fought  and  the  ^Drave  men  in 
the  days  of  Lincoln  died.  IVashington  stood  for 
it.  History  says  of  his  election,  that  it  was  “by 
the  whole  people.”  He  bitterly  lamented,  with  a 
vision  that  was  prophetic,  the  slow  hut  sure  forma- 
tion in  his  day  of  two  distinct,  integral,  mutually 


The  Pkohibitioh  Paktt  Movement.  389 


hostile,  permanent  political  bodies,  the  beginnings 
of  the  dual  party  system,  that  Scylla  and  Charyb- 
dis  of  popular  government,  between  which  many 
a precious  interest  of  the  people  is  lost. 

The  national  political  formation  known  as  the 
Prohibition  party  embodies  the  correct  funda- 
mental conception  of  popular  government.  The 
principle  came  first.  After  decades  of  agitation  and 
labor  the  issue  was  thrust  forward,  during  the 
fifties,  as  the  culmination  of  a great  reformation. 
Prom  the  several  States  dealing  with  the  question 
individually  it  was  about  to  assume  a national 
scope,  when  the  menacing  activity  of  the  slave 
power  suddenly  threw  into  the  foregroitnd  another 
issue,  which  quickly  drew  to  itself  the  suffrages  of 
the  people,  formed  a new  political  party,  and 
wiped  out  the  infamy  of  slavery  forever.  The 
Republican  party  had  a proper  birth.  It  was  a 
great  principle  that  brought  it  into  being.  The 
party  wrought  nobly  and  well — better  than  it 
knew.  Beginning  with  opposing  the  further  ex- 
tension of  slavery  simply,  it  ended  with  its  entire 
destruction.  With  the  war  and  the  days  of  recon- 
struction over,  its  work  was  properly  done. 


390  A Centuey  of  DEiifK  Eefoem. 

When  the  raging  storm  of  Civil  War  was  over, 
and  the  debris  had  been  removed,  and  the  dead 
bnried,  the  temperance  question,  which  but  yes- 
terday had  been  uppermost  in  men’s  minds,  and 
first  on  the  program  of  reform,  pressed  forward 
again.  It  claimed  precedence  by  right  both  of  its 
own  importance  and  of  its  maturity  for  action. 
Concerted  action  was  in  fact  becoming  urgent,  for 
during  the  war  the  liquor  interests  had  organized 
and  entered  politics,  and  had  recently  uttered  ugly 
threats  against  the  widespread  temperance  ac- 
tivity. It  was  no  time  to  sit  idly  by  and  see  the 
fruits  of  a great  reform  slip  away. 

It  was  in  such  an  exigency  that  the  Prohibi- 
tion party  movement  took  shape.  A new  work 
was  at  hand,  a new  principle  seeking  political  em- 
bodiment. For  has  not  every  soiil  or  life  princi- 
ple its  ovm  body,  adapted  to  and  representative 
of  itself  ? Because  a group  of  persons  think  alike, 
and  have  acted  together,  upon  one  thing,  it  does 
not  follow  that  they  Avill  also  think  alike  and  act 
together  upon  a different  thing.  Every  signal  re- 
form requires  a re-forming  of  political  constit- 
xiencies.  Unless  this  is  done,  will  not  the  work  be 


The  Pkohibitioh  Pakty  Movement,  391 


greatly  hampered  and  delayed,  or  made  im- 
possible ? 

The  political  history  of  our  land  during  the 
last  thirty  years,  since  the  inception  of  this  move- 
ment, shows,  however,  the  anomalous  fact  that  at 
no  time  during  this  period  has  the  temperance 
contingent  in  our  citizenship  been  sufficiently  free 
to  become  assimilable  to  this  one  great  central 
principle — this  in  face  of  the  most  widespread, 
continued,  and  solemn  protestations  of  its  primal 
urgency. 

The  causes  for  this  are  not  wholly  obscure. 
When  the  great  general  said,  “The  war  is  over, 
let  us  have  peace,”  the  bitter  passions  engendered 
in  the  conflict  were  by  no  means  at  once  extin- 
guished. The  vacant  chair  in  homes  all  over  the 
land  was  toe  severe  a reminder  of  the  awful  frat- 
ricidal strife.  And  the  politician,  too — God  have 
mercy  on  his  soul — -instead  of  seeking  to  cement 
the  bonds  of  a broken  national  unity,  had  to  make 
political  capital  out  of  the  circumstance  that  there 
had  been  a rebellion.  The  sectionalism  and  party 
animosity  thus  accentuated  and  kept  awakened 
did  not  prepare  men’s  minds  for  free  united 


392  A Century  of  Drink  Reform. 

action  on  the  question  of  temperance.  It  did  serve, 
as  a matter  of  fact,  to  fasten  upon  us  that  very 
spirit  of  party  passion  over  which,  like  a stone  of 
stumbling,  the  temperance  cause  has  been  griev- 
ously hurt. 

Later,  when  the  wounds  of  battle  were  heal- 
ing over;  when  this  ‘‘waving  the  bloody  shirt”  by 
the  demogague  was  becoming  less  effectual  and, 
failing  to  serve  its  purpose,  ceased ; when  men  re- 
membered that  there  had  been  a temperance  ques- 
tion, they  said  (not  finding  it  on  their  party  pro- 
gram), “But  the  people  are  not  ready  for  this 
question.”  To  which  it  was  replied,  “Help  us 
get  them  ready.  How  do  you  know  they  are  not 
ready?  Are  you  ready?  and  you?  and  you?  Let 
us  stand  together  then  and  see  how  strong  we 
really  are.”  Then,  a little  later,  as  if  recogniz- 
ing the  necessity  for  a mass  movement  on  this 
question,  temperance  men  who  wanted  to  retain 
their  membership  in  an  historical  party  and  still 
in  some  way  settle  the  drink  question,  said  again, 
“It  is  a mistake  to  make  this  question  a football 
of  party  politics;  it  can  only  be  accomplished  by 
non-partisan  effort.”  So  the  “Xational  League 
for  the  Suppression  of  the  Liquor  Traffic — Xon- 


The  Peohibitiojst  Party  Movement.  393 


Partisan  and  Non-Sectarian,”  was  called  into  be- 
ing— ‘Thrust  forth  by  Providence,”  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  its  chief  founder.  This,  as  we  have  seen, 
lived  but  a short  time.  To  try  to  dislodge  an 
enemy  without  making  it  a party  matter,  when 
the  enemy  is  entrenched  not  so  much  behind  the 
law  simply,  as  behind  the  dual  party  system  of 
making  and  administering  the  law — this  was  found 
to  be  inadequate  and  impracticable.  But  interest 
in  the  cause  was  waxing,  and  men  could  not  be 
contented  to  leave  it  here.  So  still  trying  to  settle 
this  question  without  disarranging  party  lines — 
party  ties  since  the  war  having  become  strong — 
it  was  said  again,  “The  strength  of  the  temperance 
sentiment  is  in  the  Republican  party;  that  party 
shall  take  up  the  question.”  Whereupon  came  the 
Anti-Saloon  Republican  movement,  which  we 
have  also  noted.  This  distinctively  and  avowedly 
partisan  movement  started  out  as  sanguinely  as 
did  the  preceding  non-partisan  movement.  But 
the  Republican  party,  as  we  have  seen,  hesitated, 
and  then  refused,  to  father  the  child,  and  after  a 
last  effort  for  its  recognition,  in  the  campaign  of 
1888,  it  died  also. 


394  A Centtjey  of  Deink  Refoem. 


But  tlie  cause  was  not  to  rest  even  here.  Men 
loved  their  party,  it  was  true ; but  they  loved  the 
cause  of  temperance  also.  The ' next,  and  most 
recent,  movement  was  to  embody  some  concessions 
on  both  sides.  The  temperance  question  was  not 
to  press  itself  peremptorily  upon  any  party,  for 
recognition  as  a party  issue,  on  the  one  hand ; nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  party  ties  to  be  so  strong 
as  to  bind  a man  irrevocably  to  his  party’s  candi- 
date in  every  local  election.  That  is,  the  move- 
ment was  not  to  concern  itself  so  much  with  na- 
tional platforms  and  policies,  as  it  was  to  turn  the 
scales  in  local  contests,  by  throwing  its  influence 
to  the  candidate,  among  the  two  or  more  who  stand 
a chance  of  being  elected,  who  is  most  favorably 
disposed  toward  the  temperance  cause.  This  is 
the  Rational  Anti-Saloon  League,  a movement 
that  began  with  the  formation  of  the  Ohio  State 
Anti-Saloon  League,  at  Oberlin,  in  1893.  On  its 
political  side  the  League  fights  the  battles  of  tem- 
perance with  the  same  weapons  which  the  liquor 
power  has  so  successfully  used  these  many  years; 
namely,  the  business-above-party,  balance-of-power 
method.  In  this,  however,  the  League  lacks  cer- 


The  Pkohibitioh  Party  Movement.  395 


tain  advantages  possessed  by  the  liquor  power, 
with  this  further  difference:  the  League  exercises 
discrimination  only  in  local  or  legislative  contests, 
generally,  still  supporting  in  a national  canvass 
parties  that  are  committed  to  the  policy  of  license 
and  perpetuation,  whereas  if  any  party  in  its  na- 
tional platform  should  pronounce  for  the  prohibi- 
tion of  the  liquor  traffic,  the  liquor  power  would 
throw  its  undivided  influence  against  that  party 
and  defeat  it. 

^Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Anti-Saloon 
League  is  not  itself  a political  temperance  organ- 
ism, therefore,  party  Prohibitionists  have  gener- 
ally given  it  their  sympathy,  and  not  a few  their 
active  co-operation,  on  account  of  its  work  in  the 
fields  of  agitation,  and  education,  and  law  enforce- 
ment. As  for  the  portion  of  temperance  senti- 
ment in  the  land  that  has  not  been  brought  under 
the  direction  of  the  League,  nor  into  the  ranks  of 
the  Prohibition  party,  it  has  during  these  years 
confined  itself  to  resolutions  and  editorials  and 
public  denunciations  of  the  drink  business,  supple- 
menting it  generally  by  voting  no-license  in  local 
elections,  when  the  question  is  up,  where  party 


396  A Centuey  of  Deink  Refoem. 

prejudices  are  not  awakened  nor  party  ties  dis- 
turbed. The  political  leaders,  who  in  the  interests 
of  self-preservation  and  party  success  have  never 
ceased  to  declare  that  this  is  not  a political  issue, 
have  successfully  diverted  the  public  mind,  on  the 
day  of  national  election,  to  questions  of  commerce 
and  finance. 

In  this  way  it  has  come  about  that  the  great 
temperance  principle  has  never  yet  received  a suffi- 
ciently complete  political  embodiment  to  give  it 
final  and  lasting  success.  Beginning  with  the  year 
1872,  when  James  Black  received  5,607  votes, 
mostly  from  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  Michigan, 
the  Prohibition  party  vote  in  successive  national 
campaigns  has  been  as  follows:  In  1876,  for 
Green  Clay  Smith,  9,737 ; in  1880,  for  Xeal  Dow, 
10,366;  in  1884,  for  St.  John,  150,626;  in  1888, 
for  Clinton  B.  Pisk,  249,907 ; in  1892,  for  John 
Bidwell,  279,191.  Tip  to  this  time  the  gain,  if 
somewhat  slow,  was  steady.  However,  at  the  na- 
tional convention  in  1896,  in  Pittsburg,  a division 
occurred  over  the  question  whether  the  party 
should  adopt  a “broad  gauge”  or  a “narrow  gauge” 
platform;  that  is,  whether  the  party  should  take 


The  Peohibition  Pakty  Movement.  397 


a position  upon  general  questions  of  finance  that 
were  engaging  the  attention  of  the  country  at  that 
time,  or  whether  the  party  should  confine  itself  to 
the  one  great  issue  to  which  it  was  horn.  When 
the  majority  sentiment  expressed  itself  for  the 
latter  course,  a number  of  delegates  left  the  con- 
vention hall  and  nominated  a separate  ticket,  with 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Bentley,  of  Nebraska,  at  its  head. 
They  called  themselves  the  National  party.  Re- 
ceiving only  a small  vote  the  party  ceased  to  exist 
as  a party  after  the  campaign.  This  circumstance, 
together  with  the  widespread,  intense  interest 
created  during  the  campaign  on  the  question  of 
sound  money,  deflecting  public  interest  from  an 
issue  so  largely  moral  as  the  drink  question, 
caused  the  vote  of  the  Prohibition  party  nominee, 
Mr.  Joshua  Levering,  for  that  year  to  fall  to  132,- 
009.  In  the  election  of  1900,  Mr.  John  G.  Wool- 
ley,  after  an  aggressive  canvass,  polled  209,936 
votes.  Silas  C.  Swallow,  in  1904,  received  258,- 
205  votes. 

The  fact  that  this  movement  has  not  been 
more  largely  supported ; that  it  has  ever  remained 
so  far  from  carrying  a national  election,  this  is 


398  A Centuky  of  Dein^k  Reform. 

a matter  for  the  most  earnest  consideration  by  both 
those  within,  and  those  outside  of  the  party  move- 
ment. For  let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  this  movement  rests  upon  sound  polit- 
ical philosophy,  namely,  that  every  signal  new 
issue  must  gather  to  itself  afresh  an  organized 
political  constituency,  or  “party,”  to  carry  it  into 
effect, — a position  not  true  in  the  abstract  simply, 
but  one  which  the  temperance  history — the  rever- 
sions and  “failures  of  prohibition” — since  the 
Civil  War  has  demonstrated  with  a cogency  that 
can  not  be  honestly  evaded.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
must  not  escape  candid  reflection  that  in  practical 
politics  reason  and  philosophy  do  not  always  find 
free  course — have  not  so  found  in  the  instance  of 
this  reform;  that  while  it  may  be  true  that  had 
the  temperance  sentiment  of  the  country  united  in 
this  movement  and  made  the  temperance  question 
the  dominant  issue  in  American  politics,  this  qiies- 
tion  would  probably  have  been  irrevocably  settled, 
the  fact  is  that  temperance  sentiment  has  not  be- 
come thus  united,  the  temperance  question  has  not 
been  made  the  dominant  issue  in  American  poli- 
tics, and  the  contest  is  not  settled. 


The  Pkohibitioh  Pakty  Movement.  399 


So  let  us  ask  ourselves  with  all  candor  this 
question : Whatever  may  be  one’s  convictions  as 
to  the  right  and  logical  necessity  of  the  Prohibi- 
tion party  movement,  what  prospect  has  that  party 
to-day  of  actually  getting  into  power?  For  in 
matters  of  statecraft  the  ultimate  criterion  of  con- 
duct must  take  into  account  not  alone,  Is  it  right 
and  logical  ? but  also.  What  am  I likely  by  such  a 
course  to  achieve  ? And  since  this  movement  has 
up  to  the  present  time  come  so  far  short  of  its 
goal,  what,  if  anything,  is  there  in  the  present 
political  situation  that  would  justify  the  citizen 
in  allying  himself  with  this  party,  when  other  is- 
sues of  more  or  less  importance,  by  other  parties, 
are  before  the  people,  upon  which  there  is  a pros- 
pect of  winning?  Of  all  the  obstacles  that  have 
been  met  with  in  the  temperance  reformation, 
none  probably  has  been  more  stubborn  and  perplex- 
ing than  this. 

What  shall  we  say,  then?  It  is  here  that  the 
logic  of  events,  after  rough  handling,  has  brought 
us.  It  was  here  that  Gough  came,  after  he  had 
wrought  in  the  cause  for  forty  years,  the  most 
famed  of  the  world’s  temperance  apostles.  The 


400  A Century  of  Drink  Eeform. 

young  man,  John  B.  Finch,  consecrated  his  match- 
less talents  to  this  movement.  Haddock  fell  here, 
a martyr.  Generals  Heal  Dow  and  Clinton  Fisk, 
intrepid  warriors  in  every  peace  battle  of  God,  led 
the  fight  here.  Miss  Frances  Willard,  with  rich 
gifts  consecrated  to  humanity,  from  deaf  ears 
turned  here  for  hope.  These  all  died  in  the  faith. 
Shall  it  be  said  that  what  men,  after  weary  search, 
believed  to  be  the  way  of  hope — a way  first  pointed 
out  by  the  supreme  body  of  the  world’s  largest  and 
most  active  temperance  order — is  now  only  the 
place  of  confusion  and  despair  ? 

One  can  only  say  this : do  not  lightly  give  up 
logic ; by  that  sign  man  shall  conquer.  Logic  is 
not  an  abstract  thing  from  the  hazy  realm  of  meta- 
physics ; it  is  the  form  of  omnipotence ! Every- 
where in  society  we  find  traces  of  its  work.  It  is 
sometimes  slow  getting  under  way;  but  once  it 
gets  its  momentum  men  will  fly  for  their  life! 
The  pent-up  indignation  everywhere  against  the 
liquor  business  and  against  the  infamy  of  its  offi- 
cial sanction,  this  is  the  sure  ground  of  promise. 
Out  of  these  elements  the  cause  will  gather  to  it- 
self momentum,  some  day — before  very  long.  We 


The  Peohibitioh  Party  Movement.  401 


must  allow  something  yet  for  conscience  and  in- 
telligence. It  may,  or  may  not,  be  that  men  have 
not  voted  in  accordance  with  their  prayers,  but  it 
is  their  prayers,  nevertheless,  that  speak  their 
souls’  genuine  desire;  and  if  they  shall  continue 
to  receive  not  they  will  learn  some  day  that  it  is 
because  they  have  been  asking  amiss.  Prejudice, 
self-interest,  party  love — these  may  be  strong,  but 
they  are  not  stronger  than  love  of  truth  and  honor 
and  right.  They  of  the  Church  who  send  mission- 
aries to  the  ends  of  the  earth  that  they  may  teach 
idolatrous  and  fetich-worshiping  peoples  of  the  one 
true  God  who  is  spirit  and  truth,  will  not  bow 
forever  to  the  fetich  of  a party  name  in  their  own 
midst. 

But  there  is  this  to  be  said  further,  and  finally : 
the  inference  that  a citizen’s  support  of  a party 
or  party  movement  is  justified  only  in  the  event 
of  a probability  of  immediate  majorities  at  the 
polls,  can  hardly  be  established  as  a valid  general 
principle,  and  in  this  instance  is  not  pertinent. 
There  are  two  distinct  stages  before  us  before  the 
goal  of  the  temperance  reform  is  reached.  To 
elect  a ticket  is  the  second  step  only,  the  last  thing 
26 


402  A Ces-tuey  of  Deink;  Refoem. 

to  be  done.  The  first  step — the  longer  and  harder 
of  the  two — is  to  win  recognition  for  this  question 
as  an  issue  in  general  politics;  to  get  it  squarely 
before  the  people  for  an  honest  vote ; to  deliver  the 
question  from  the  eternal  torment  of  local  politics 
and  make  it  national.  That  sermons,  prayers, 
resolutions,  petitions,  appeals  will  not  accomplish 
this  has  been  thoroughly  demonstrated.  Only 
votes  cast  for  this  specific  issue  in  sufficient  num- 
bers will  accomplish  it.  This  does  not  require 
majorities.  A respectable,  united  minority  will 
do  it.  To  accomplish  this  is  the  immediate  pro- 
gram of  the  Prohibition  party  movement. 

Thus  in  the  coming  election,  while  it  will  re- 
quire something  like  six  or  seven  million  or  more 
votes  to  elect  a national  ticket,  to  win  recognition 
for  the  drink  issue  would  require  probably  not 
more  than  a half  million  votes.  Such  a vote  cast 
for  this  specific  issue  would  give  it  sufficient  prom- 
inence— would  thrust  it  so  plainly  in  sight  in  the 
political  arena — that  it  would  become  impossible 
longer  to  ignore  it.  That  the  Prohibition  party, 
which  has  never  been  more  completely  organized 
than  noWj  nor  pushed  its  work  more  aggressively. 


The  Prohibition  Party  Movement.  403 


will  yet  succeed  in  this, — this  does  not  seem  to  lie 
beyond  the  measure  of  belief. 

What  will  happen  when  this  point  has  been 
reached  no  man  may  foresee.  This  much  only  is 
reasonably  certain,  that  when  the  American  peo- 
ple once  grapple  this  question  in  close  embrace, 
the  saloon  will  be  done  for;  it  will  be  settled  for 
good.  The  Prohibition  party  may  gather  into  it- 
self the  temperance  elements  of  the  nation,  be- 
come itself  the  dominant  party  and  carry  the  issue 
to  a successful  close.  This  would  from  now  on 
become  comparatively  easy  and  rapid ; for  there  is 
law  of  gravitation  for  political  bodies  as  there  is 
for  bodies  terrestrial;  namely,  that  attraction  in- 
creases with  the  mass  and  with  the  nearness  with 
which  the  object  sought  is  at  hand.  With  the  op- 
position vote  distributed  among  several  parties 
such  success  might  become  possible  without  an  ac- 
tual majority  vote.  The  Republican  party  came 
into  power  in  1860,  when  it  had  polled  only  two- 
fifths  of  the  total  popular  vote. 

Or  there  may  be  a new  alignment  of  political 
parties,  one  of  the  larger  parties  perhaps  taking 
up  the  question,  for  the  sake  of  its  own  life,  or 


404  A Centuey  of  Dkink  Refoem. 

when  it  shall  offer  success  at  the  polls.  Or,  again, 
an  entirely  new  party  may  emerge  when  the  con- 
test shall  become  general. 

The  Prohibition  party  movement,  then,  must 
find  its  justification  in  the  necessity  of  the  imme- 
diate political  situation;  in  the  conviction  that 
enough  men  can  be  brought  together  to  accomplish 
this  essential  first  work, — men  whom  the  Lo  her  el 
and  the  Lo  there!  of  the  professional  party  jug- 
gler at  each  quadrennial  political  pageant  shall 
cease  to  allure  and  turn  aside,  absolutely  unmoved 
by  the  prediction  that  the  nation  will  perish  if 
the  other  party  is  allowed  to  win;  men  who  be- 
lieve that  the  powers  that  be,  ordained  as  they  are 
of  God,  should  facilitate  and  further  the  work 
of  God — that  they  should  rise  in  the  electorate 
above  personalities  and  the  sounding  of  party 
plaudits,  above  rates  and  schedules,  to  men,  to  the 
real  interests  of  a people,  the  sobriety,  health,  and 
virtue  of  its  citizenship,  the  purity  and  peace  of 
its  homes,  the  sacred  maintenance  of  a sound  civic 
conscience, — it  is  the  conviction,  we  repeat,  that 
out  of  America’s  enfranchised  citizenship  a half 
million  and  more  such  men  will  yet  stand  together 


The  Pkohibitioh  Party  Movement.  405 


upon  a platform  that  calls  for  the  national  sup- 
pression of  the  trade  in  strong  drink — -which 
reaches  all  these  interests  more  widely  than  any 
measure  that  governments  have  thus  far  yet  em- 
ployed or  proposed, — that  must  constitute  the  hope 
and  the  justification  for  the  organized  prohibition 
movement,  which  shall  clear  a way  out  of  this  wil- 
derness and  ambush  warfare  into  the  open,  where 
the  struggle  will  be  fought  to  a finish. 


APPENDED  NOTES  TO 
SECOND  EDITION. 


On  Lincoln,  pp.  91,  92. 

There  are  persons  living  to-day  who  took  the 
temperance  pledge  at  the  hands  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. The  form  of  the  pledge  which  he  used  was 
drawn  up  hy  himself,  and  read  as  follows : 
‘ 'Whereas,  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a bev- 
erage is  productive  of  pauperism,  degradation,  and 
crime,  and  believing  it  is  our  duty  to  discourage 
that  which  produces  more  evil  than  good,  we  there- 
fore pledge  ourselves  to  abstain  from  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors  as  a beverage.” 

The  historic  facts  and  incidents  connected  with! 
this  pledge  have  recently  been  fully  investigated, 
and  upon  the  first  suggestion  of  Dr.  Louis  Albert 
Banks,  because  of  its  personal  associations  and 
interest,  this  pledge  is  now  being  used  to  start 
another  nation-wide  pledge-signing  movement  and 
personal  total  abstinence  crusade.  The  plan  is  to 
work  largely  through  the  Churches  and  Sunday- 
schools  of  the  land ; those  who  sign  the  pledge 
becoming  thereby  members  of  the  Lincoln  Legion. 

407 


408 


Appended  Notes. 


When  the  tide  of  prohibition  swept  over  the 
land  in  the  fifties,  Lincoln  became  deeply  inter- 
ested in  this  new  phase  of  the  temperance  reform. 
The  man  is  living  to-day — Major  J.  B,  Merwin,  of 
St.  Louis — with  whom  Lincoln  made  a campaign 
speaking  tour  through  the  State  of  Illinois,  in 
advocacy  of  a prohibitory  law.  Mr.  Merwin  had 
come  West  by  invitation,  to  speak  in  the  old  State 
House  in  Springfield,  setting  forth  the  nature  and 
workings  of  the  “Maine”  law.  Mr.  Lincoln,  who 
was  present,  was  loudly  called  for  at  the  close  of 
the  meeting,  and  in  response  he  arose  and  made  a 
characteristic  short  address,  forceful  and  eloquent, 
on  the  mission  of  law.  Mr.  Merwin  became  Lin- 
coln’s guest,  and  the  entire  night  was  spent  in  a 
discussion  of  the  “Maine”  law, — of  the  meaning 
and  design  of  all  law.  The  next  morning  Lincoln 
proposed  that  they  communicate  with  Richard 
Yates,  of  Jacksonville,  who  was  at  that  time  the 
head  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  in  that  State. 
The  latter  invited  them  to  come  at  once  to  Jackson- 
ville, and  hold  a meeting.  It  was  then  that  Lin- 
coln and  Merwin  entered  upon  their  canvass  of  the 
State.  It  was  to  Major  Merwin,  later,  that  Lin- 
coln on  the  day  of  his  assassination  said:  “After 
reconstruction,  the  next  great  question  will  be  the 
overthrow  of  the  liquor-traffic.” 


Appended  Notes. 


409 


On  High  License,  pp.  256-258. 

There  has  been  a marked  disposition  manifest 
recently  to  force  up  the  license  fee  of  the  saloon- 
keeper,— this  not  so  much  as  a confessed  temper- 
ance measure,  as  it  is  a form  of  expression  of  the 
indignation  of  the  public  mind  against  this  busi- 
ness. Two  notable  recent  instances  are  the  case  of 
the  City  of  Chicago,  where  the  license  was  raised 
from  $500  to  $1,000 ; and  the  State  of  Ohio, 
where,  by  legislative  enactment,  the  fee  or  “tax” 
was  raised  from  $350  to  $1,000 — ^both  in  the  early 
spring  of  1906. 

On  the  Dispensaet  System,  pp.  261,  262. 

An  interesting  legal  contention  has  arisen 
under  the  operation  of  the  Dispensary  system. 
From  the  time  that  the  Dispensary  Act  went  into 
effect,  the  United  States  revenue  collector  for  the 
district  of  South  Carolina  has  required  the  State 
dispensary  commissioner  and  each  county  dis- 
penser to  pay  the  Federal  liquor  tax  of  $100  a 
year,  as  a wholesale  liquor  dealer ; and  each  local 
dispenser  to  pay  $25,  as  a retail  liquor  dealer. 
Several  years  ago  the  State  of  South  Carolina 
brought  suit  against  the  United  States,  in  the 
Federal  Court  of  Claims,  for  the  recovery  of  the 
money  thus  paid.  The  contention  put  forth  was 


410 


Appended  Xotes. 


that  the  Dispensary  system  is  not  a commercial 
enterprise,  but  a police  measure;  and  that  the  Fed- 
eral Government  has  no  constitutional  power  to 
impose  a tax  upon  the  administrative  agencies  of 
a State.  The  decision  of  the  Federal  Court  of 
Claims,  rendered  February  29,  1904,  was  adverse 
to  the  State’s  contention.  ‘‘The  commercial  char- 
acter of  the  State’s  undertaking  is  stamped  unmis- 
takably on  the  system,”  it  says.  “The  statute 
establishing  it  authorized  a profit  of  50  per  cent, 
and  contemplated  large  profits,  directing  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  should  be  utilized  and  distrib- 
uted. As  a matter  of  fact,  the  system  has  been 
a great  commercial  success,  and  has  yielded  large 
profits.  . . . The  great  question  in  this  case 

is  whether  the  United  States  can  impose  an  excise 
tax  upon  a State  when  the  State  carries  on  a com- 
merical  business  for  profit,  a business  which  in  the 
hands  of  any  other  person  or  body  corporate  will 
be  subject  to  the  termo  and  conditions  of  the  Fed- 
eral revenue  law.” 

The  case  was  appealed  to  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  where  a decision  was  rendered 
December  2,  1905,  affirming  the  verdict  of  the 
lower  court.  This  fixes  the  legal  status  of  State 
grog  shops  in  the  United  States,  as  at  present  con- 
ducted. 


Appended  Notes. 


411 


On  the  Committee  oe  Fifty,  p.  293. 

This  body,  which  was  organized  in  1893,  with 
Hon.  Seth  Low  as  president,  and  Professor  Francis 
G.  Peabody  as  secretary,  is  composed  for  the  most 
part  of  men  who  have  held  themselves  more  or  less 
aloof  from  the  organized  temperance  movement, 
and  yet  recognize  that  the  urgency  of  the  situation 
requires  that  something  he  done.  The  scope  of  the 
work  mapped  out  was  to  be  strictly  limited.  It 
was  not  to  preach  or  moralize,  but  to  ascertain  and 
collect  all  accessible  facts  bearing  upon  the  liquor 
problem,  ^‘in  the  hope  of  securing  a body  of  facts 
which  may  serve  as  a basis  for  intelligent  public 
and  private  action  ...  to  secure  for  the  evi- 
dence thus  accumulated  a measure  of  confidence 
on  the  part  of  the  community  which  is  not  ac- 
corded to  personal  statements.”  At  one  of  the 
early  meetings  of  this  body,  four  subcommittees 
were  appointed,  to  consider  respectively  the  physi- 
ological, the  legislative,  the  economic,  and  the  eth- 
ical aspects  of  the  drink  question;  these  subcom- 
mittees being  under  the  chairmanship,  respect- 
ively, of  Dr.  J.  S.  Billings,  President  Charles  W. 
Eliot,  Professor  Henry  W.  Famam,  and  Colonel 
Jacob  L.  Greene.  The  following  volumes  have 
been  issued,  prepared  by  these  subcommittees,  with 
the  help  in  each  case,  generally,  of  a number  of 


412 


ApPEIsTDED  Xotes. 


investigators : The  Physiological  Aspects  of  the 
Liquor  Problem,  2 volrunes;  The  Liquor  Problem 
in  its  Legislative  Aspects;  The  Economic  Aspects 
of  the  Liquor  Problem;  Substitutes  for  the  Saloon, 
by  Raymond  Calkins.  The  results  of  this  series 
of  investigations  have  been  summarized,  for  popu- 
lar use,  in  a small  volume,  entitled  The  Liquor 
Problem. 

These  investigations,  conducted  at  private  ex- 
pense, form  a collection  of  facts  of  considerable 
value.  Many  of  the  facts  are  not  new,  but  stated 
by  so  conservative  a body,  their  value  is  rather  en- 
hanced. There  is  a proper  appreciation  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  drink  problem.  “Xo  one  can 
doubt,”  the  physiological  subcommittee,  through 
its  chairman,  goes  on  to  say,  “that  the  abuse  of 
alcohol  constitutes  a threat  to  our  civilization,  and 
that  the  history  of  mankind  would  have  been  very 
differently  recorded  had  it  been  possible  to  elimi- 
nate all  the  crime,  misery,  and  disease  directly  or 
indirectly  traceable  to  alcoholic  excess.”  The 
report  makes  clear  that  the  injury  done  by  strong 
drink  is  not  due  to  the  adulterants  used  in  cheap 
liqiior,  as  is  often  supposed,  but  to  the  ethyl  alco- 
hol it  contains.  “The  injurious  impurities  and 
by-products  of  alcoholic  drinks  may  be  excluded 
altogether  as  a cause  of  alcoholism,”  it  concludes. 
The  part  played  by  alcohol  in  the  processes  of 


Appended  Notes. 


413 


nutrition  is  fairly  stated.  ^'Wtile  alcohol  in  mod- 
erate quantities  may  act  as  a fuel  food,  in  large 
quantities,  and  for  some  persons  even  in  small 
quantities,  it  acts  as  a poison.”  The  lowered 
power  of  resistance  to  disease,  and  the  diseases 
actually  induced  by  excessive  and  continued  drink- 
ing, are  pointed  out.  As  to  the  staying  power  im- 
puted to  alcoholic  liquors,  “even  their  moderate 
use  just  before  or  during  physical  or  mental  work 
usually  diminishes  the  total  amount  of  work 
done.”  And  again,  “Alcohol  gives  no  persistent 
increase  of  muscular  power.  It  is  well  understood 
by  all  who  control  large  bodies  of  men  engaged  in 
physical  labor  that  alcohol  and  effective  work  are 
incompatible.” 

While  all  this  is  said,  and  while  we  are  told 
that  alcoholic  liquors  are  not  needed  by  young  and 
healthy  persons,  and  are  dangerous  to  them  in  so 
far  as  they  tend  to  create  a habit,  and  that  “in  gen- 
eral, the  habitual  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  is  unde- 
sirable”— still,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  an  in- 
sistent denial,  almost  belligerent,  that  “the  drink- 
ing of  one  or  two  glasses  of  beer  or  wine  by  a 
grown-up  person  is  very  dangerous.”  The  com- 
mittee inclines  to  the  view  that  there  may  be  an 
average  minimum  “permissible  quantity”  of  al- 
cohol that  can  be  used  daily  by  the  adult  without 
producing  bad  results,  especially  if  used  only  at 


414 


Appended  Notes. 


meal  time,  or  with  the  last  meal  of  the  day.  In 
this  connection  appears  the  animus  of  the  com- 
mittee, or  specifically  of  Professors  H.  P.  Bow- 
ditch  and  C.  P.  Hodge,  toward  a certain  “well- 
known  powerful  total  abstinence  society,”  because 
this  society  has  interested  itself  in  getting  the  sub- 
ject introduced  into  our  schools,  and  has  seen  to 
it  that  text-books  are  used  that  “accord  with  ex- 
treme total  abstinence  views.”  The  activity  of 
the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union,  with 
its  total  abstinence  principles,  seems  an  oSense  to 
these  gentlemen,  who  enter  not  in  themselves  and 
would  hinder  those  who  are  entering  in.  These 
strictures  seem  especially  untimely  just  now,  when 
Germany  is  introducing  into  her  schools  almost 
the  identical  course  of  instruction  in  scientific 
temperance  that  we  have  here,  and  the  medical 
profession  in  Great  Britain  has,  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing petition,  requested  the  educational  authorities 
in  the  United  Kingdom  to  introduce  similar 
courses  there;  when  the  Hinister  of  Public  In- 
struction in  Hungary  has  just  addressed  a ringing 
official  circular  to  the  inspectors  of  elementary  and 
high  schools,  asking  them  to  see  to  it  that  children 
are  instructed  and  warned  on  this  subject,  and  to 
exhort  teachers  “to  neglect  no  opportunity  for 
forming  temperance  societies;”  when  all  Prance  is 
being  placarded  with  posters,  signed  by  her  lead- 


Appended  Notes. 


415 


ing  scientific  men,  warning  the  people  against  the 
ravages  of  alcohol.  We  repeat,  the  strictures  by 
the  Committee  of  Fifty  on  the  subject  of  scientific 
temperance  instruction  come  at  an  inopportune 
time. 

The  legislative  subcommittee  points  out  that 
“the  commonest  issue  over  which  contentions  about 
local  self-government  have  arisen  has  been  the 
liquor  issue;”  discusses  with  considerable  fullness 
the  various  methods  of  restriction  or  suppression 
that  are  at  the  present  time  employed  in  our  land ; 
points  out  the  resultant  activity  of  the  liquor  in- 
terests in  politics ; affirms  that  prohibition  “has 
failed  to  subdue  the  drinking  passion,  which  will 
forever  prompt  resistance  to  all  restrictive  legis- 
lation;” and  that  “whether  it  (prohibition)  has 
or  has  not  reduced  the  consumption  of  intoxicants 
and  diminished  drunkenness  is  a matter  of  opin- 
ion, and  opinions  differ  widely;”  concluding  with 
the  statement  that  “it  can  not  be  positively  af- 
firmed that  any  one  kind  of  legislation  has  been 
more  successful  than  another  in  promoting  real 
temperance.” 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  liquor  forces 
have  a clearer  view  of  things,  and  more  definite 
convictions,  than  this;  and  it  is  probably  fortu- 
nate that  temperance  people  generally  have  like- 
wise reached  more  definite  conclusions. 


416 


Appended  Xotes. 


The  report  of  the  economic  subcommittee  gives 
valuable  data  as  to  the  magnitude  of  the  liquor 
interests,  the  relation  of  liquor  to  poverty  and 
crime,  and  the  economic  forces  working  for  and 
against  the  consumption  of  liquor.  The  investi- 
gations concerning  substitutes  for  the  saloon  reveal 
the  fact  that  the  saloon  ministers  to  the  craving  for 
companionship  as  well  as  to  the  craving  for  liquor. 
The  function  of  the  saloon  as  a social  center  is 
pointed  out,  albeit  that  function  is  not  a disinter- 
ested one.  The  desideratum  in  the  reform,  there- 
fore, is  to  make  liquor-selling  “as  prosaic  as  any 
retail  grocery  business,  and  a saloon  as  devoid  of 
social  attractions  as  a drygoods  store.”  The  cardi- 
nal principle  in  such  legislation,  Mr.  Calkins  finds 
in  the  removal  of  the  element  of  profit  from  the 
sale  of  liquor,  and  while  he  sees  not  a few  things 
to  condemn  in  the  South  Carolina  law,  where  the 
motive  of  gain  is  still  in  a measure  present,  since 
the  profits  are  applied  on  the  tax  rate,  he  finds  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  ideal  in  the  Xorwegian  or 
Company  system,  “which  may  be  said  to  contain, 
the  essence  of  scientific  modern  liquor  legislation.” 

While  South  Carolina  is  struggling  at  this  very 
hour  to  throw’  off  entirely  the  system  of  State  con- 
trol, still  it  can  not  be  denied  that  this  method  of 
dealing  with  the  drink  evil  is  finding  favor  in  the 
minds  of  not  a few  at  the  present  day.  Yet  it  is 


Appended  Notes. 


417 


but  an  eddy  in  tlie  resistless,  onward-moving  tide 
of  the  reform.  Compelled  by  the  logic  of  fact  and 
experience,  men  will  evermore  strive,  not  so  much 
to  make  liquor-selling  “prosaic,”  as  to  make  it, 
for  beverage  purposes,  unlawful.  They  will  strive, 
not  so  much  to  remove  tables  and  chairs  and  pic- 
tures from  in  front  of  the  public  bar,  as  to  remove 
the  bottle  from  the  shelf  behind  it. 

In  fine,  the  work  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty  is 
a work  of  large  usefulness  in  its  limited  sphere, 
but  only  in  that  sphere.  We  must  not  expect  too 
much  from  it.  Accepting  its  statements  of  basic 
facts  and  conditions,  we  shall  be  compelled  to  do 
our  own  thinking,  to  adduce  from  them  ourselves 
sound  principles  of  personal  and  political  conduct. 
These  reports  will  serve  as  a ballast  and  corrective 
to  extreme  views  and  forms  of  statement  into 
which  temperance  advocates  are  likely  to  fall : and 
the  temperance  advocate,  of  all  advocates,  can 
afford  to  be  moderate — ^his  case  is  strong  enough. 

But  when  we  look  for  clear  light  in  the  way 
of  definite  measures  of  relief,  these  investigations 
offer  us  none.  There  is  no  clear  analysis  of  the 
factors  that  enter  into  the  problem,  no  compre- 
hensive philosophy  of  the  reform,  no  clear  induc- 
tion from  fact  to  principle,  no  scheme  of  salvation, 
even  tentative.  We  are  not  led  to  hope,  even, 
that  there  is  salvation — are  expressly  told,  in  fact, 
27 


418 


Appended  Notes. 


that  the  work  will  be  ‘‘always  being  done ; always 
unfinished.”  Difficulty  and  doubt  are  suggested 
on  every  hand. 

In  the  meantime  the  battle  is  being  hotly  con- 
tested at  the  front.  The  lines  are  fiung  far  out 
into  the  distance  on  either  side.  Veterans  of  many 
campaigns  are  to-day  standing  shoulder  to  shoul- 
der, unflinchingly  facing  the  foe.  They  waver  not 
for  an  instant,  hut  press  forward.  The  gleam  of 
victory  is  in  their  countenance.  Already  their 
standard  has  been  planted  far  up  the  heights ; 
while  marching  swiftly  by,  to  lend  support,  is  the 
chivalry  of  American  youth. 

He  who  aspires  to  the  honor  of  standard-bearer 
must  not  be  found  here! 


INDEX 


Page 


Abstinence,  early  embodied 

in  reform  52 

Correct  personal  princi- 
ple   279 

Alcohol,  first  effects  of.  . .298 
American  Temperance  So- 
ciety formed  52 

Report  of  progress 71 

Merged  in  American 
Temperance  Union  ...  83 
American  Temperance  Un- 
ion   83 

Superseded  by  National 
Temperance  Society 
and  Publication-house. .225 
American  Tract  Society. 48,  60 

Anti-canteen  law  243 

Anti-saloon  League,  Na- 
tional   276,  394 

Anti-saloon  Republican 

Movement  271 

Appleton,  Gen.  James,  on 

license  laws  122 

Army,  spirit  ration  abol- 
ished   72 

Atwater,  Prof.  W.  O..  ex- 
periments with  alcohol. 292 

Beecher,  Rev.  Lyman,  pio- 
neer in  reform 35 

His  report  on  temperance 
at  General  Association 

of  Connecticut  42 

His  six  sermons 49 

Benezet,  Anthony,  forerun- 
ner of  reform 33 

Bible  wines  controversy...  86 


Black,  James  ...224,  253,  396 
Blair,  Henry  W.  .268,  274,  294 


Page 

Blue  Ribbon  Movement. ..  .232 
Brewers’  Association,  The 

U.  S 179,  162,  249,  250 

Cadets  of  Temperance 93 

Cass,  General  Lewis,  pro- 
moter of  temperance . 72,  73 
Catholic  Total  Abstinence 

Union  227 

Chapin,  Rev.  Calvin,  early 

advocate  56 

Cheever,  Rev.  Geo.  B., 
“Deacon  Gile.s’  Distil- 
lery”   69 

Church  (Episcopal)  Tem- 
perance Society  229 

College  Presidents  in  early 

reform  63 

Committee  of  Fifty 293 

Congregational  Churches 

take  up  Question 42 

Congressional  Temperance 

Society  73,  96 

Constitutional  prohibition. 

State  263 

National,  labored  for.... 266 
Convention,  National  Tem- 
perance, first  74 

Second  76,  83 

World’s  first  97 

Second  126 

Crusade,  The  Woman’s.  ..  .234 

“Deacon  Amos  Giles’  Dis- 
tillery”   69 

Delavan,  Edward  C 85,  97 

Democratic  Party,  attitude 
on  temperance  ...271,  336 

Dispensary  System  258 

Dorchester,  Rev.  Daniel... 270 


419 


420 


Index. 


Page 

Dow,  Neal,  brings  in  era  of 

prohibition  

107,  116,  126,  396 
Drink.  See  Liquor. 

Edwards,  Rev.  Justin,  mas- 
ter organizer  of  early 
reform  ..48,  67,  73,  82,  83 
Episcopal  Church  Temper- 
ance Society  229 

Europe,  temperance  reform 
introduced  from  Amer- 
ica   65,  85 

Fifty,  Committee  of 293 

Finch,  John  B.  ...95,  235,  400 
Fisk,  Gen.  Clinton  B.  .272,  396 
Fisk,  Rev.  Wilbur,  early 
temperance  leader  in 

Methodism  62 

Foster,  Mrs.  J.  Ellen. 245,  270 

Garrison,  Wm.  Lloyd,  early 

temperance  editor 57 

Germany,  effects  of  beer 

drinking  in  290 

Leaders  in  temperance.  . 298 
Good  Templars,  Independ- 
ent Order  of 94 

Gothenburg  System  259 

Gough,  John  B.  ..100,  272,  399 
Griffin,  Albert,  leader  Anti- 
saloon Republican 

Movement  273 

Haddock,  Rev.  Geo.  C., 

murdered  184 

Hastings,  Samuel  D 95 

Hawkins,  John  H.  W., 
leader  of  Washlngto- 

nianism  89 

Hepburn-Dolliver  Bill,  in- 
terstate commerce  in 

liquor  320 

Hewit,  Rev.  Nathaniel. 
Luther  of  early  reform 

56,  SI 

High  License  policy  in- 
augurated   236 

Hitchcock,  Prof.  Edward.  . 61 
Humphrey,  Rev.  Heman, 
powerful  early  advo- 
cate   38,  63.  68 

Hunt,  Rev.  Thomas  P., 

temperance  lecturer.  . . 98 


Page 

Internal  Revenue.  Bureau 

of,  created 139 

International  Anti-alcoholic 

Congress  291 

Interstate  commerce,  as  af- 
fecting prohibition 319 

Iowa,  case  of  prohibition  in 

345,  354 

Jewett,  Dr.  Charles,  tem- 
perance lecturer  ..98.  226 
Judicial  Decisions.  See  Su- 
preme Court. 

Kittredge,  Jonathan,  ad- 
dress on  temperance.  55 

Law  and  Order  Leagues, 

organized  254 

Lewis,  Dr.  Dio.  relation  to 

woman’s  crusade 235 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  work  in 

temperance  90 

Liquor,  amount  annually 

expended  for  211 

Capital  Invested  in  pro- 
duction of  157 

Consumption  of  ....157,  159 
Organization  of — inter- 
ests   179.  182 

Taxation  of.  by  Federal 

Government 140,  165 

Dnder  expansion  170 

Litchfield.  agreement 
among  farmers  in 

county  34r 

Local  option,  early  in  oper- 
ation   119 

Handicap  of  317 

Ethics  of  323 

Loyal  Temperance  Legion. .242 

Marsh.  Rev.  John.  “Put- 
nam and  the  Wolf. 61,  76 
Secretary  American  Tem- 
perance Union  ....84,  131 
Massachusetts  Society  for 
the  Suppression  of  In- 

tenr.perance  45 

Mathew,  Father  Theobald, 
Irish  apostle  of  tem- 
perance in  America.  . .101 
Methodist  Church  first 

takes  up  question 40 


Index. 


421 


Page 

Moreau.  N.  T.,  Temperance 

Society  37 

Murphy,  Francis,  Blue  Rib- 
bon Movement  232 

Mussey,  Prof.  R.  D.,  ad- 
dress on  temperance.  . . 60 

National  Anti-saloon 

League  276 

National  League  for  the 
Suppression  of  Liquor 

Traffic  269 

National  Philanthropist, 
first  temperance  news- 
paper   57 

National  Temperance  con- 
vention, first  44 

Second  76,  83 

National  Temperance  So- 
ciety and  Publication- 

house  225 

Navy,  grog  banished  from.  91 
Nott,  Ellphalet,  powerful 

early  advocate  63 

Orders,  Fraternal  Temper- 
ance   92f,  226 

“Original  Package"  Deci- 
sion   319 

Pearson,  Rev.  Samuel  F., 

Sheriff  of  Portland ....  36S 
Pepper,  Dr.  William,  on  al- 
cohol   294 

Porter,  Rev.  Ebenezer.  ser- 
mon on  intemperance..  37 
Presbyterian  Church  ap- 
points committee  on 
temperance  39 

Prohibition,  logical  culmi- 
nation of  reform.  .107,  122 
Correct  public  policy ....  299 
Enacted:  Maine. ..  .Ill,  124 
Minnesota.  Rhode  Island, 
Massachusetts,  Ver- 
mont   125 

Michigan  126 

Connecticut  127 

New  York  128 

New  Hampshire  129 

Delaware,  Nebraska.  In- 
diana   130 


Page 

Prohibition— 

(Constitutional)  Kansas, 
Iowa,  Maine,  Rhode  Is- 
land. North  Dakota, 

South  Dakota  265 

Party,  organized  

253.  269,  271,  385ff 
Repeals  of.  Delaware, 
Nebraska,  Indiana, 

Rhode  Island.  Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut. 

Michigan  243 

South  Dakota  262 

Vermont,  New  Hamp- 
shire   306,  355 

Rechabltes,  Independent 

Order  of  92 

Red  Ribbon  Movement ....  232 

Reform  Clubs.  The 230 

Republican  party,  attitude 

on  temperance  

271,  275,  336,  338 
Reynolds,  Dr.  Henry  A., 

Reform  Clubs  231 

Royal  Templars  of  Temper- 
ance   226 

Rush,  Dr.  Benjamin,  origi- 
nator of  temperance 

reformation  22 

His  “Inquiry"  25-31 

At  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  39 

Sargent,  Lucius,  Temper- 
ance Tales  68 

Science  and  alcohol 292 

Scientific  temperance  in- 
struction in  schools.  .. 243 
Sewall,  Dr.,  charts  of  hu- 
man stomach  97 

Slavery  Reform,  its  relation 
to  temperance  reform. 132 

Smith,  Gerrit.  .; 118,  253 

Sons  of  Temperance 93 

Stearns,  J.  N..  secretary 
National  Temperance 

Society  225 

St.  John.  John  P 272,  396 

Stuart,  Prof.  Moses,  Prize 

Essay  61 

Sunday-schools  introduce 

temperance  lessons.  ..  .243 


422 


Imdex, 


Page 

Supreme  Court.  U.  S.,  de- 
cisions bearing  on 

drink  question 

119.  183,  319 

Temperance  Societies,  first 

crude  efforts  36 

Taxation.  See  Liquor. 
Teetotalism  introduced 

into  reform  76 

In  Europe  81 

Temperance  Taies,  Sargent.  68 
Templars  of  Honor  and 
Temperance  94 


Page 

Thompson,  Mrs.  Eliza  J., 
leader  of  Woman’s 
Crusade  235 

Washingtonian  movement..  87 

Willard,  Miss  Frances 

239,  246,  269,  400 
Wilson,  Henry  W.,  opposes 
Federal  tax  on  liquor. .141 
Woman’s  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union.  ..  .238,  247 
Woman’s  Crusade,  The.... 234 


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